


Change In Colour

by Livelongandfangirling



Category: Formula 1 RPF
Genre: (whoops), An AU of an AU, F/M, Fluff, Friends to lovers to exes to colleagues to..., Hurt/Comfort, Occasional angst, Occasional swearing, mentions of past relationships - Freeform, with a tiny bit of slow burn thrown in for good measure
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-09-30
Updated: 2018-06-22
Packaged: 2019-01-07 07:16:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 48
Words: 179,243
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12228159
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Livelongandfangirling/pseuds/Livelongandfangirling
Summary: They say that one decision can change your whole life. But what if during that decision, you made a different choice?





	1. Prologue - Part 1

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Restricted Work] by [Livelongandfangirling](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Livelongandfangirling/pseuds/Livelongandfangirling). Log in to view. 



> So I mentioned in the notes of a Life In The Fast Lane chapter that I came up with an AU for it, well here it is...  
> I got the idea for it last year and I kept writing and writing and it just kinda happened, since I've written so much for it I thought that I might as well post it.  
> Just to avoid any confusion all the events fro Life In The Fast Lane up to (but not including) Chapter 65 still stand (all will make sense once you've read the prologue).  
> I guess all that's left to say is I hope you enjoy it (and sorry if it's a total hot mess)
> 
> NB - I forgot to add (I was half asleep when I posted this so my bad) that I'd recommended reading Chapters 1, 15, 21, 30, 53 & 54 if you want to get a gist of the plot pre-prologue.  
> And as always there will be the occasional bit of artistic licence with race results etc (as this is a work of fiction)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> How things change

_Saturday 19 th September 2015– Singapore_

Seanagh huffed at the sound of three knocks on her hotel room door; she slowly got up from her double bed and trudged towards the door. She opened it and saw Jenson leaning against the doorframe, smiling the second he saw her.

“Evening team mate”

“Evening. What can I do you for?” Seanagh crossed her arms and glanced at the many sheets of paper in Jenson’s hands.

“I thought we could go over these, you know for tomorrow” Jenson looked incredibly hopeful as he held up a bundle of data sheets. Seanagh just smiled and took a few steps back allowing Jenson in. “Plus, this is just according to your twitter, you seemed extremely bored…” Seanagh giggled at the thought of Jenson avidly scrolling through her twitter page before sitting back down on the bed.

“Let’s have a look at those data sheets then”

“Which ones do you want?” Jenson started sorting the sheets into which parts of the car they related to.

“As long as it isn’t the engine I’m not bothered” Jenson chuckled, before throwing a smaller pile of sheets away.

“Couldn’t agree more” Seanagh picked up the first set of sheets that was closest to her and instantly became engrossed in them, reading them all over at least twice. She even looked out her various notebooks with the intention of taking notes when she turned to where she thought Jenson was sat to ask his opinion on something.

“What do you make of this Jense?” Instead of being greeted with a warm smile and blue-grey eyes all she saw was a discarded hoodie and a small pile of paper. She looked up and saw Jenson stood on the balcony, so she put her notebooks and data sheets down and decided to join him. “Penny for your thoughts?” Jenson smiled, as he usually did when the pair were around each other, and let out a small sigh.

“I just… needed some space”

“Is everything alright?” Jenson paused, where any other person would have said they were fine even if they weren’t.

“Too much to think about” He shook his head and turned round so he now had his back to the Singapore skyline. “And a few things just keep on going round and round in my head and…” Jenson cut himself off and scoffed before quickly changing the subject. “How have you been anyway?”

“Me?!” Seanagh replied startled, wondering why the topic of conversation was suddenly her. “I’ve been alright… I guess” Seanagh folded her arms across her chest and looked down at her shoes, she looked up at the sound of Jenson sighing, he looked as if he was thinking about whether or not he should say something.

“I’m sorry I haven’t spoken to you much lately”

“It’s understandable” Seanagh shrugged “I’m sure you’ve had other things on your mind, and besides I’m just the reserve driver” She gave Jenson a small smile and turned to head back into her room.

“You’re way more than ‘just the reserve driver’ to me you know” Seanagh turned round in the doorway and looked at Jenson softly. “You’re… special, to me” Jenson spoke with such sincerity, and given the way he was looking at her she had to believe him. Seanagh gasped quietly and felt herself rooted to the spot. When he noticed Jenson walked the few steps that were between the two drivers before he leaned down and kissed her with what felt like months and months of feelings boiled down into one intense kiss. Luckily for them it wasn’t a brief moment in a hotel corridor, or where one of them didn’t know what was going on. It seemed to have been third time lucky for the pair, as Seanagh went high up on her toes and wrapped her arms round the back to Jenson’s neck before burying the tips of her fingers deep in his sandy blond hair.

They stood like that for what probably was minutes, making up for all the nearly’s and lost moments when they could have told each other exactly how they felt. “I know this might sound a tad forward…” Jenson paused to catch his breath, moving a few stray strands of hair out of Seanagh’s eyes. “But I think I love you” Seanagh’s face split into a wide smile before she softly kissed him again. “You know, when I first met you I promised myself I wouldn’t do this” Jenson huffed and looked at his feet while reluctantly letting Seanagh out of his arms.

“If it makes you feel better I told myself the same thing” Seanagh sighed and sat down on the edge of the bad and the room was suddenly filled with a slightly uncomfortable silence. “And because of that, I only went out with Sebastian in the hope the feelings I had for you would go away” She scrunched her eyes shut as the words hurriedly left her mouth, even though she could still hear Jenson let out a small gasp and a long sigh. Little did she know Jenson had done the same, small flings with old flames that only lasted for a few weeks tops, because every time that new relationship buzz would quickly wear off his mind would always drift to the person on the other side of the garage.

“Do you want me to give you some space?”

“No” Seanagh looked up and replied quickly. “W-what if tomorrow we decide that this is a bad idea again and-”

“Shhh” Jenson crouched down in front of Seanagh who looked to be on the verge of tears. He cupped her face with his left hand and brushed his thumb across her cheek. “Maybe you and I have chased each other around long enough but… I think mentally I’m a bit ahead of you. It’s only right that any decision about us should be on your terms”

“My terms… Jense what are you…” Seanagh whispered as she watched Jenson collect the pile of data sheets that he had arrived with. She knew that her saying I love you back would make him stay, but for some reason she couldn’t bring herself to say it. “Jenson please don’t leave” She stood up and took a couple of steps forward, she was scared of this turning into a repeat of Monaco; she didn’t want to mess up anything again for a possible third time in a row. Jenson swiftly turned round and gently kissed Seanagh on the forehead before looking at her fondly.

“I want you to be happy, and that’s with or without me. Just take as long as you need to figure out what’s best for yourself” Seanagh muttered out a quiet okay in reply. “I’ll see you tomorrow” Jenson gave Seanagh a warm smile before eventually leaving her hotel room to head back to his own. Seanagh sighed and sat on the floor with her had in her hands. Eventually she decided to get ready for bed, she put out her hand to push herself up from the floor and was surprised when she felt soft fabric underneath her fingers instead of carpet. It turned out to be Jenson’s hoodie still in a small heap on the floor. She picked it up and placed it on the bed and ended up putting the hoodie on once she was in her pyjamas, and she slowly climbed into bed. Her body felt tired but her mind was buzzing, trying to figure out what _really_ was best for her.

 

_Sunday 20 th September – Marina Bay Street Circuit_

As expected the post-race debrief lasted less than twenty minutes, with a proper meeting scheduled for when everyone was in a much better mood. As Seanagh slowly walked out of the meeting room and into the main hospitality area, she saw Jenson running upstairs with Fernando out of the corner of her eye. As she watched him Mikey carefully squeezed past her.

“Oh, Mikey!” Jenson’s physio turned round and politely smiled at Seanagh. “Is uh… is Jenson staying long?”

“No I don’t think so; he’s already done his interviews. Why do you ask?”

“Oh I just needed to talk to him about the simulator plans for next week that’s all” Mikey hummed, he knew Seanagh was lying but he also didn’t know why Seanagh wanted to see Jenson so he just went with along with it.

“You might want to catch him before he gets changed then” He stood aside allowing Seanagh to walk up the stairs where she approached Jenson’s private room before loudly knocking on the door.

“Give me a second, I’m not decent” Seanagh thought about making a witty remark but her mind was still giddy with more important things to say so she just stayed quiet and bounced up and down on her toes. After a minute or So Jenson answered the door half dressed in his black shorts while still wearing his fireproof top.

“Hey team mate” Seanagh smiled politely as Jenson looked shocked to see her standing there. “Do you have a minute?”

“Is it important?” Jenson gulped sounding nervous.

“Yeah, it is” Jenson said nothing and simply let Seanagh in. He took a deep breath as he shut the door behind her and ran a finger round the tight collar of his shirt. “You alright?”

“Fine, Singapore’s treated me worse I suppose” Seanagh hummed, a flashback to two years ago briefly popping up inside her head. “So, what’s so important that you need to see me now?” Jenson clearly wanted to finish getting changed and go back to the hotel. Seanagh took a deep breath before speaking, and looked Jenson right in the eyes.

“I can’t suddenly start seeing you Jenson, I’m sorry” Seanagh bit the inside of her cheek and gave Jenson as much personal space and time he needed to reply.

“Right”

“It’s just… I want to have my career in order first before I even think about anything else” Jenson just slowly nodded and stared at the floor. “I’m sorry”

“No, no… I left it up to you and that’s what you want so… it’s okay”

“I should probably let you get changed. I’ll see you back at the hotel or the factory or… whatever” Seanagh saw herself out of Jenson’s room.

“You and Seanagh get that sorted then?” Mikey walked in right after Seanagh left, completely unaware at what had just happened.

“Yeah” Jenson just stood on the spot still staring at the speck on the floor. Mikey just tutted and threw Jenson’s shirt at his face. “Oh, thanks” Jenson quickly pulled the shirt over his head and quickly bundled his things in his team issue backpack. “You ready then?” Jenson slung the bag over his shoulder and followed Mikey out of the room without looking back.


	2. Prologue - Part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> One door closes...

_Saturday 17 th October – Heathrow Airport_

“I really hope you’re going to tell me what we’re doing here” Seanagh glared at her manager as they walked through duty free. “Because all I know is that we’re going to Bologna. And you haven’t even told me why. And considering that fact I lost my job a few days ago, I’m not in the mood for guessing games” She wanted to scream, she was still getting over the fact McLaren had just let her go. No meeting, just an email that was under five hundred words.

Seanagh had been at Woking yesterday to say goodbye to everyone (especially Jenson, who had given her the warmest hug and wished her the best for the future) and the second she got back to her flat her manager Rebecca told her to back a suitcase for a three day business trip to Italy. Seanagh had deliberately pushed the words ‘Maranello’ and ‘Ferrari’ out of her mind, in her view there was no way they would want a washed up reserve driver like her.

“I told you, a business trip”

“I thought managers usually had the common decency to tell their clients details of these ‘business trips’” Seanagh sighed, looking up at the first class lounge entrance, feeling deep down that she didn’t deserve to be there. Rebecca didn’t say anything until they were safely sat down in the British Airways First Class lounge with two very expensive cups of Italian coffee.

“Here, I wanted us to be in private before telling you where we’re going” Seanagh took the white envelope her manager was holding out to her and stared open mouthed at the top right corner. One of the words she had tried not to think about was staring at her in red, yellow and black. Ferrari.

_Dear Seanagh,_

_I regret to be informed about your departure from McLaren. That being said I am inviting you to visit the factory here in Maranello for a few days to see our facilities, as well as driving our test track at Fiorano._

_All will be explained when you arrive, but for now I hope you enjoy our hospitality._

_With Regards,_

_Maurizio Arrivabene_

“I need you to take this trip seriously Seanagh” Seanagh nodded in response. “Because…” Rebecca paused and leaned in and spoke in a whisper. “I have a copy of a contract in by suitcase”

“You what?!”

“I think they want to offer you a seat for next season”

 

_Maranello_

“So she’s definitely coming, here to the factory?”

“Yes Sebastian she is. Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to finish the final preparations for her visit” Maurizio stood up from his seat and left Sebastian with a boyish grin on his face.

“Okay”

“And Sebastian” Seb looked up mid-way through typing out a text. “I hope what you have just told me about her is true”

“I’m sure it will be, I hope”

 _‘Apparently Seanagh’s visiting the factory tomorrow, did you know about this?’_ Upon reading and re-reading the text Seb decided not to send the message to Britta and placed his phone back in his pocket just as Kimi came into view.

“Kimi!” The Finn jumped slightly and turned round to smile brightly at Sebastian before embracing him in a hug. “So, you’re really retiring?” Kimi nodded and stuffed his hands in his pockets with a small shrug.

“I mean the racing is okay but… I have my family now. And I want to look after them” Kimi beamed when he said the word ‘family’.

“You have every right to” Seb smiled and clapped his friend on the shoulder. “Well, it’s been a great year”

“Don’t speak like that. We still have a few races left”

“Oh good, I have time to write you a farewell speech”

“God I feel bad for my replacement” Kimi laughed and walked towards the entrance of the cafeteria. “I’ll see you later Seb, be nice!” Sebastian knew he was referring to Seanagh’s visit, in which Seb already knew he was going to be his most charming self.

 

_Sunday 18 th October_

“I really, really want to throw up right now” Seanagh exhaled and placed a hand on her stomach that was currently trying out for the Team GB Olympic Gymnastics squad.

“Since it’s Ferrari, I’ll let you off”

“Thanks Becks” Seanagh looked down at her red blouse, teamed with black jeans, a grey cardigan and beige flats. She wondered if she looked smart enough. After all, it was Ferrari. Before Seanagh realised it she was walking towards the entrance to the factory alongside Rebecca, and was already shaking Maurizio’s hand.

“Buongiorno Seanagh, thank you for coming”

“It’s a pleasure to be here” She gave him her best smile and moved her sunglasses onto the top of her head, deliberately trying to ignore Sebastian who was smiling at her from reception.

“Well, Mr Allison will show you around. I’ll join you after going through a few things with your manager about tomorrow”

 

_Monday 19 th October – Fiorano Test Track_

The hour on Ferrari’s test track had gone by far too fast. Not only was the car incredible but the track… It made Seanagh wonder why more teams didn’t have their own test track. She pulled the 2013 Ferrari into the pit area and was grinning through her helmet. The looks from the engineers around her suggested that her lap times were good, and it took them to tell her to get out of the car for her to do so. For Seanagh it had been the best afternoon in a long time and she didn’t want it to end.

“Not bad”

“Thanks” Seanagh smiled at the engineers once she took off her helmet. “It’s a pretty good track you guys have here, and the car’s not that bad either” The second part of the sentence caused all of the engineers to smile, and some even patted her on the shoulders.

“Well, the red suits you. Better than we expected” With a few more smiles the engineers all headed off together, and Maurizio took their place.

“Hello, everything alright?” They shook hands and Maurizio looked rather pleased.

“Yes, you have more talent than we thought” Seanagh forced a smile at the slightly backhanded compliment.

“Well, I didn’t win the Hungarian Grand Prix on _just_ luck you know” That caused a small laugh from Maurizio.

“I’ll see you back at the factory” Seanagh headed into the main building to change out of her overalls before meeting Rebecca to head back to Maranello.

 

“So” Sebastian was in Maurizio’s office, arms folded across his chest with a smile on his face. “I was right wasn’t I?”

“Don’t look too smug Sebastian, but yes… Her times were a lot better than what we had originally thought”

“Then sign her!” Maurizio sighed and looked at Sebastian with a cold glare.

“I know you want her to be your team mate. But she has to decide for herself Sebastian. And don’t try to convince her, if she wants to drive for us then she will” Seb nodded and went to leave Maurizio’s office. “I’ll see you tomorrow” He waved and left just as Seanagh was walking down the corridor with her manager. They exchanged polite smiles as they briefly passed each other, and Seb couldn’t help but wonder how easy it was going to be for them to make amends with each other. Their break-up just over a year ago was hard on both of them, and if they were going to be team mates… well things definitely needed to be put aside.

 

Seanagh couldn’t shake the nervous feeling in her stomach once she had sat down in Maurizio’s office. Now that she was familiar with both the factory and the people, the idea of driving for Ferrari didn’t sound so bad. But the weight that carried with the name still terrified the young driver.

“Now Seanagh” Maurizio spoke once Rebecca had left the office to make a few phone calls. “I make it my duty to be honest with people, and that includes potential drivers. I want you to be the same with me right now”

“Alright” Seanagh clasped her hands on her crossed legs and waited with a slightly nervous smile.

“First, what other teams have shown interest in you?”

“Only Renault, or Lotus. Whatever you want to call them” Seanagh responded quickly, still keeping the nervous smile on her face. Maurizio hummed and nodded a few times.

“Okay, and Sebastian?”

“What about him?” Seanagh could feel her shoulders tense up slightly, surely Seb had kept their relationship quiet enough that only they and a few select others knew about it.

“Do you think you can work well with him?” Seanagh waited and planned her next words carefully.

“As in being the second driver or just in general?” Maurizio sighed at the ‘second driver’ comment. “You did ask me to be honest with you, so that’s me being honest”

“While here at Ferrari, we do have a clear driver policy… It does not mean that every weekend you will be treated second best. At Ferrari we only have the best drivers. You and Sebastian will be shown equal respect within the team, and during the race if you are out performing Sebastian then you will be given priority for that race” Seanagh hummed and nodded.

“Well if that is the case… Sebastian and me get on well I’d say. I mean there’s no beef between us, and as drivers we completely respect each other” It was a response she had rehearsed many times, but she had tried her best to make it sound like that wasn’t the case. “And if you don’t mind me asking” Maurizio leaned forward waiting to hear what Seanagh had to say. “You could have signed anyone you wanted, Hulkenberg, Bottas, Grosjean… heck even Verstappen, and you chose me? I just want to know why”

“After what you did in Hungary a lot of people think of you very highly, more than you would imagine. And after today at the track you have proved that you are fast, and Sebastian also asked for you to be his team mate, not that he has the final say of course” Seanagh raised her eyebrows and gawked at Maurizio’s comment. “You seem surprised”

“I didn’t think… He thought of me so highly as a driver”

“Well he does” When Rebecca finally walked back into the office Maurizio pulled what had to be a contract out of a drawer that he had just unlocked with a small silver key. Seanagh had to try and control her breathing so she didn’t sound like she was freaking out. “Now all of that is out of the way, are you ready to discuss the contract?” She wasn’t. She really wasn’t. If anything Seanagh was ready to run out of the room and straight for the hills.

“I think… I need to talk some things through with Seanagh first before we sign or discuss any contracts Maurizio. I hope you understand” He cautiously nodded and stood up.

“Of course, take as long as you need”

“Will tomorrow afternoon do?” Seanagh actually bit down on her tongue to stop herself from screaming ‘TOMORROW AFTERNOON?!’ in extreme disbelief.

“Maybe we should speak through some things in private first. Seanagh will you excuse us?” Seanagh left the room faster than would have been acceptable. Upon leaving the office she leaned against the glass barrier that was preventing her from falling onto the reception desk on the ground floor.

Seanagh closed her eyes and began taking slow and deep breaths to try and calm herself down. It had only just hit her how close she was to becoming a Ferrari Formula One driver, and if she was being honest, she wasn’t completely sure she could handle the pressure.

“Hey” The calmness of Sebastian’s voice startled her.

“Hello” Her reply was the most tense she had sounded in the whole year. They hadn’t had the chance to speak much, only briefly in passing.

“What’s the matter?” He walked over to her side and placed a hand on her upper back.

“Maurizio just offered me a race contract for next year” Seanagh’s reply sounded breathless, she thought she was going to faint.

“Are you kidding me? That’s great!” Sebastian saw the look of panic on Seanagh’s face and muted his tone and posture. “Just… think it through, properly okay?”

“I will Sebastian, thank you” He smiled and looked at the office door, frowning at the sound of voices on the other side.

“I’ll see you later” He waved again and left, moments later Rebecca and Maurizio emerged with the sound of light laughter.

“It’s been wonderful to get to know you both; I hope you make the best decision for you Seanagh”

“I hope so too” Seanagh smiled and walked with Rebecca down the grey stairs and out of the glass doors and into the black car that was waiting to take them back to the hotel. “God this is crazy” Seanagh sighed running her hands through her hair. “I don’t know if I can do this Becks, I really don’t”

“Hey, just calm down alright. When you get back to your room have a shower and order something from room service. I’ll leave you for a few hours to fill you in and talk things through” All Seanagh could muster was a small smile and a quiet thank you before leaning back in the black leather seat watching the chauffeur drive through the quiet streets of Maranello.

 

“Hi Mum”

“Seanagh sweetheart! How’s everything at Italy?”

“It’s… It’s been crazy Mum. They’ve gone and offered me a contract” Seanagh heard her Mum gasp loudly and shout to her Dad and brother who were most likely watching some kind of action film judging by the background noise.

“Mark, Will! Seanagh’s been offered a seat at Ferrari!” The sound of excited murmuring on the other end of the line caused Seanagh’s nerves to return.

“Easy Mum I don’t need the whole of Edinburgh to know”

“Sorry darling, it’s just that this is big for your career. Have you made your mind up?” Seanagh smiled at how excited her Mum was, this was going to be the biggest thing to happen in the whole family no matter what decision she ended up making.

“No, it’s just that… I don’t know if I can do it. There’s so much extra pressure from simply driving for Ferrari plus… I’d be team mates with Sebastian”

“Oh…” The tone of her voice said it all.

“Yeah… It doesn’t help much”

“Hang on a second, I’ll go into the other room” Seanagh waited for the sound of the living room door being shut before continuing to speak.

“I mean, I don’t like him in that way anymore” (at least she thought she didn’t) “But… I don’t know if I can work with him so closely without… well you know…”

“Being reminded of what happened between you?”

“Yeah” Seanagh bit her lip and sighed, for once glad that her Mum could read her thoughts.

“Well… There are no doubts about your driving ability; otherwise you wouldn’t be in Italy at all right now. But the other thing… You can only speak to Sebastian and try to iron things out”

“Yeah good idea, I might call him now actually. Just to get it over with”

“Well good luck darling, let us know how you get on. And remember, there’s always Renault” The tone of reassurance wasn’t unfamiliar to Seanagh; her Mum was one of the few people in the world that could calm her down no matter what the situation.

“Thanks Mum” She exhaled when she hung up and instantly scrolled through her contacts and dialled Sebastian’s number hoping it was the right one.

“Hello?”

“Umm hello Sebastian, it’s me” She began walking around her hotel room in a small circle.

“I thought it was you!” Sebastian exclaimed and also sounded quite relieved. “So, how have the past two days been?”

“Absolutely incredible” Seanagh sighed and leaned against the door, grinning happily to herself. “Like everyone dreams about driving for Ferrari, and I’ve driven one of their Formula One cars. Me! A 26 year old from Northampton”

“You deserve it, you really do”

“And… well I guess I have to thank you in part really”

“Me?”

“Yeah, for asking Maurizio to invite me over. Don’t play dumb he told me, you know my views on honesty between people” Those last few words were a sting to both of them, it was a small reminder of what happened between them at Russia last year that wiped the smiles off both their faces. “Sorry, poor choice of words”

“Actually I had nothing to do with it. It was all down to your manager, and your driving ability of course”

“What really?!”

“Yes, I only told Maurizio I would prefer to be team mates with you when he said you were visiting the factory. Speaking of which I need to talk to you about that”

“Sure” Seanagh moved away from the door and sat down on the cream coloured leather sofa

“First of all, I’m both happy and comfortable to work with you as a team mate. As long as we put aside what happened between us and can call each other friends”

“Okay”

“And second…” Sebastian sighed and paused for a moment. “I’ve missed you” Seanagh quietly gasped and placed the palm of her free hand against her forehead. “I know it sounds odd but… I liked having you around. I only just remembered today how nice it was” Seanagh sighed and thought about her reply.

“You do know we’d have to be professional right? I can’t drive for Ferrari and start seeing you again, can I? It just wouldn’t work. And besides I don’t think it would take Maurizio long to catch on. I’m sure the Italians are very clever with that sort of stuff” Seanagh heard Seb laugh and was relieved that he caught on to her sense of humour.

“Anyway, back to the serious stuff. How are you feeling about everything?”

“Well… it’s all really overwhelming right now. Being offered a seat at Ferrari and holding an actual conversation with you…” Seanagh’s words trailed off as she didn’t really know what to say. “I don’t think I can be at Ferrari. I just can’t Sebastian”

“Don’t make up your mind just yet, please think this through. I can’t think of anyone who would deserve that seat more than you”

“I mean besides… I still have an option open at Renault. This is nothing against you or Ferrari Seb, it’s all me. 26 year old women from Northampton aren’t exactly Ferrari material” Sebastian was about to protest when someone knocked firmly on Seanagh’s door three times.

“Seanagh it’s Becks”

“I need to go… I’ll speak to you later maybe?”

“Yeah, have a nice evening”

“You too” Seanagh hung up and placed her phone down on the glass coffee table and let her manager in, she placed the do not disturb sign on the door and faced her manager who looked incredibly frantic. “Good news first Becks”

“Right well, Ferrari emailed me a copy of the contract. It’s pretty good, one plus one deal with a three quarter of a million euro salary in the first year, going up to one million in the second year should they use that option on you, and pending on your year one results of course. With a ten thousand bonus for each podium finish and a twenty five thousand win bonus, and the championship bonus is very generous indeed” Becks just showed Seanagh the figure that was black and white on the paper.

“That is good” Seanagh folded her arms and leaned against the door.

“You also get a Ferrari company car of your choice, with priority on any waiting lists for exclusive limited number road cars”

“Sounds like they really want me”

“They do, which leads me onto the bad news” Rebecca looked at Seanagh very sincerely. “Or it could be more good news depending on how you look at it”

“Becks…” Seanagh walked towards her manager sternly, desperate to get the news out of her.

“Renault have retracted their offer, they’ve gone for someone else instead, they didn't tell me who but...” Seanagh sighed and placed her hand in her hands. “So it’s Ferrari or bust”. To Seanagh it was more than Ferrari or nothing, it was either a seat in Formula One or the end of her motor racing career. She looked at her manager who had her phone in her hands, ready to make a phone call. They both shard a silent look, Becks smiled and nodded as she dialled the number she had pre-typed into her phone.

 

 _Tuesday 20 th October_ _– Maranello_

Seanagh took the fountain pen in her hands and the ink forming her signature glided across the paper. Rebecca and Maurizio looked on proudly while Sebastian had a small smile on his face. Seanagh took a long look at her signature before going to shake Maurizio’s and Sergio Marchionne’s hands.

“Done”

“Welcome to the team”

“A Brit driving for Ferrari… When was the last time that happened?” Seanagh was still in awe at what her signature meant.

“Eddie Irvine, 1999. He finished second in the championship that year” Sergio looked at Seanagh, obviously still trying to figure out if Maurizio had made the right call.

“Well I’m just going to have to try and beat that then aren’t I?” Seanagh’s confidence brought laughter to the room (even to Seb) and at that point Britta walked in wielding a phone in a Ferrari branded phone case.

“Would you like me to take the pictures for the press office now?” She asked while smiling at both Seanagh and Sebastian.

“Yes, yes. Drivers first” Maurizio gestured to Seb who immediately placed his hand on Seanagh’s waist, who also gladly placed her arm tightly round him as well (more for support than anything else).

They both smiled while Britta took the pictures before Sergio and Maurizio took his place. Once Britta was happy with the photos she looked at Seanagh quite sternly.

“I need you two” She gestured to Seb with her free hand without looking at him. “To come with me to the press office”

“Yes, and I’ll stay here and arrange travel plans for Austin” Seanagh and Seb left with Britta. Seanagh waited until they were out of earshot before jumping up and down in the corridor.

“Oh my god, I’m a Ferrari driver” Sebastian grinned while Britta also smiled at the two drivers. “Please tell me I’m not dreaming”

“Nope” Sebastian (still grinning) placed his arm around Seanagh’s shoulder and held her close. “You’re part of the Ferrari family now, and you are also stuck with me”

“Wonderful” Seanagh jokingly rolled her eyes and her and Seb laughed as Britta entered the press office with them in tow. Of the few press officers that were there, they all stood up to shake Seanagh’s hand and welcome her into the team, and it turned out there were more Brits at Ferrari than she had first thought.

“We started work on the press releases last night. Just need to do the text for the social media posts” For Seanagh it was the first time in knowing Britta for almost three years that she had seen her work as a press officer, and it became very clear why Seb had kept her on.

“I need to tell Vanessa and Richard the deal’s official, if you get to keep Britta and Antti then I’m keeping-”

“It’s already been done” Seanagh turned round to see Rebecca who had just walked in. “I’ve called Ron, he’s fine with letting Richard go, and upstairs is fine with him joining the team”

“For a small fee no doubt” Seanagh rolled her eyes. While Rebecca just nodded.

“The press release is done; if you want Seanagh you can make some posts on your social media now. Oh and Martina make sure Ferrari is following her on twitter and such”

“I did it last night Britta!” A small Italian woman spoke while typing away hurriedly at her computer. After taking a selfie with Sebastian she posted it to her twitter and instagram profiles with a short caption:

_‘Sorry for being so quiet the past few days, everything has been so hectic! But I can now officially tell you all that as of 2016 I’ll be driving for @ScuderiaFerrari!!! I cannot wait to start working with Sebastian and the rest of the team. Thank you all so much for your supportive messages, I look forward to kicking Mercedes butt in scarlet next year’_

After a few minutes Seanagh’s phone buzzed with calls and texts, she called home first, and was answered by her brother.

“ _Please_ tell me it’s official now!” Will sounded if he was going to burst with excitement.

“Oh it’s real Will, I signed my contract twenty minutes ago”

“Mum! Dad! Seanagh’s actually a Ferrari driver!!!” The sheer excitement in his voice did cause Seanagh to well up a little; luckily Seb was still there and hugged her side, slyly kissing her temple. “I’m so proud of you sis! We all are, even Dad’s crying”

“Well tell him to stop, or he’s going to set me off…” The conversation continued for a few minutes before Seanagh had to hang up as Seb had insisted that morning that he give Seanagh a personal tour of the parts of the factory that had been missed off two days ago.

“This could be the start of something really great you know”

“Oh I don’t doubt that for a minute”

 

_Thursday 22 nd October – Circuit of Americas, Austin_

To say that it was raining cats and dogs, was an incredible understatement. And it was even supposed to get worse over the weekend. As expected, the media attention on both Seanagh and Ferrari had gone through the roof. She had been hounded by journalists upon getting out of her car and entering the paddock and she was glad when a Scuderia Ferrari branded golf umbrella wielding Seb had rescued her. On a lighter note a lot of Seanagh’s friends in the paddock had been coming up to congratulate her on getting the drive, such as Dan and Susie as well as Lee McKenzie and Suzi Perry from the BBC. Others however (as expected) had been incredibly judgemental both of Seanagh and of Ferrari for signing her. One particular person even aired their concerns on live TV.

“Well it’s very surprising really, how Ferrari would be so keen on signing Palmer over other drivers such as Ricciardo or Hulkenberg. Don’t get me wrong she’s a good driver, I just feel like maybe there are better drivers to choose from with slightly more experience” Seanagh was sat with Kimi and Minttu having lunch.

“What an arsehole” It was Seb instead of Kimi who made the comment and sat down next to his new team mate.

“Yeah whatever” Seanagh sighed and suddenly became very focused on her pasta. Seb gently placed his hand on Seanagh’s shoulder. “The last thing I need is some washed up over-paid TV pundit saying I’m not good enough” Out of the corner of Seanagh’s eye she could swear she saw Kimi smile at ‘washed up over-paid TV pundit’.

“Probably needs to watch last year’s Russian Grand Prix again” Minttu took a small sip of her espresso and smirked behind the mug. Seanagh gave a gentle laugh in response and went to say something when the entire of the hospitality area started looking at the large plasma TV. Maurizio had gate-crashed the broadcast and openly defended both Seanagh and the decision to sign her for next season, something which the hospitality area applauded. One of the things Seanagh had learned at her first few days with the team is that Ferrari _always_ defends its family.

 

_Sunday 25 th October – US Grand Prix_

“Enjoy the race guys” Daniel pulled his hood in closer around his head to protect himself from the rain that had been falling for hours. Thankfully the huge storm from the day before had passed but it meant everyone arriving an hour earlier for the postponed qualifying session. In the mist that was created by the rain Daniel spotted a lone spot of red among the grey, he decided to approach it in the hope that it was either Sebastian or Seanagh so he could share the umbrella with them. “Uh, excuse me?” Dan asked cautiously, and the spot of red turned round and Seanagh smiled at him brightly.

“Hey Dan! You look soaked” Dan smiled and dived under the large Ferrari branded golf umbrella and they resumed their walk through the paddock. “How’s things?”

“Good, pretty alright to be honest. Nothing new really. But congrats on the Ferrari seat mate, you really deserve it” Dan side hugged his friend who instantly started to blush.

“Thanks, I still can’t believe it you know” She exhaled and puffed out her cheeks. “It’s one heck of a career lifeline”

“You know I’m not _that_ surprised, you’ve never done anything by halves have you?” The Brit let out a loud laugh and clapped Dan on the shoulder. “Remind me again why I’m friends with you?”

“Oh you know, it’s the looks isn’t it? That and my charming personality” Daniel gave her a large grin for good measure and began to quicken his pace as he spotted Daniil also wielding an umbrella. “I’ve gotta run I’ll catch up with you later buddy!”

“See you” Seanagh ran the few feet towards the Ferrari hospitality unit closing her umbrella and soon enough the speck of red in the grey mist was gone.


	3. New Beginnings

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pre-season: the calm before the F1 storm

_Friday 8 th January 2016 – Edinburgh_

“Happy Birthday sis” Seanagh and her brother Will were currently both home alone as their parents were still on their way back from work. She had already opened the birthday card from her brother over breakfast but as Will sat down on the sofa next to his older sister he gave her a small gift.

“What’s this?” Seanagh spun the small parcel in her fingers that felt slightly cool to the touch.

“Read the tag” She did so and raised an eyebrow at the message.

_Something to match your new car, love Will xx_

“Well open it then” Seanagh tore carefully at the bright red wrapping paper that was probably left over from Christmas (one of the perks of being born less than three weeks after Christmas Day) and revealed a bottle of red nail polish. Seanagh laughed and lightly hugged Will’s arm.

“I love it, thank you”

“I thought you could wear it at testing”

“I definitely will” The siblings hugged properly and they spoke about the build-up to the pre-season test when they heard their parents at the front door.

“Hi Mum, hi Dad” They said simultaneously and waited until they had dumped their coats before going to hug them.

“Happy Birthday darling” For a woman who had been at work since four that morning, Seanagh’s Mum looked pristine. Then again anyone who worked for an airline always did.

“Thanks Mum”

“And the check-in girls all got you something, and they want to wish you the best at Ferrari”

“I swear you have the sweetest co-workers” Seanagh remarked as she took the small gold foil bag from her Mum and peeked inside to see an expensive designer Italian perfume. “Armani, really?!”

“All that time in airports and you haven’t you heard of Duty Free?” Seanagh’s Dad joked from the kitchen while making cups of coffee. “Haven’t you opened your presents yet?”

“No I wanted to wait for you two to come home”

“Well we’re here now!” One of the non-intentional Palmer family traditions was for Seanagh to find her birthday presents underneath the Christmas tree that was always taken down the following day. She never got that many presents for her birthday (and she never really minded) but this year there seemed to be a very distinct Italian theme: an Italian phrase book from her Dad, another bottle of perfume and a necklace from her Mum, and a Ferrari mug from Will. Once all the wrapping paper had been tided away Seanagh’s phone rang, and she answered it in the hallway by the stairs.

“Hello?”

“Hi Seanagh”

“Sebastian!” Seanagh exclaimed too loud for her liking and nearly face planted the wooden banister she was leaning against. She quietly went upstairs to her room before she made any more noise. “Sorry, I just wasn’t expecting a phone call from you”

“It’s okay; I just wanted to wish you a Happy Birthday”

“Thank you” Seanagh smiled at the gesture.

“And well, we’ve officially been team mates for a week now so it would be rude not to” Seanagh just laughed, and she could hear Seb laughing too. “And uh… I was wondering when you were next going to be at the factory?”

“Next week, I’m getting measured for my overalls and going over some helmet designs” Seb hummed, he was probably running a hand through his hair by this point. It was scary to Seanagh how she could still remember all of his mannerisms.

“I might see you around then. I think I’m there at roughly the same time”

“I’ll see you then in that case” They stayed silent for a few moments, the conversation felt slightly awkward on both sides.

“Look I need to…” They spoke at the same time and both nervously laughed.

“I’ll see you next week Sebastian, bye”

“Bye Seanagh” Seanagh hung up and left her bedroom and nearly walked right into her Mum.

“Everything okay Mum?”

“Yes, everything alright with Sebastian?”

“Fine, he’s fine” Seanagh went to head back down the stairs, but a hand on her arm stopped her. “Mum…”

“I’m just worried about you, working with your ex-boyfriend and all”

“I’ll be fine Mum, and nothing but professional”

 

_Friday 15th January – Maranello_

“Good morning!” Seanagh spoke in a sing-song voice as she walked through the canteen in her new Ferrari shirt and cap. Seb turned round and smiled once he saw his team mate.

“Well, look at you” Seanagh went as far as to twirl, before smiling down at the Scuderia Ferrari logo on her chest. “It suits you better than I expected”

“Thank you” Seanagh sat down and removed her cap, looking at the number sixteen stitched onto the peak of her hat in three layers of red, white and blue.

“How did the uh… fitting go?” Seb asked, his hands wrapped round a cup of coffee, a second paper cup sat a few centimetres away from him.

“Fine, still feels odd wearing the red overalls. I’ll get used to it though, when I get my own” Seb just smiled, and pushed forward the extra cup.

“Thanks” Seanagh smiled at the gesture, given her early start she was due a caffeine boost.

 

Seanagh couldn’t stop smiling at her reflection in the mirror. The specific shade of Ferrari red did look well against her dark hair and fairer skin tone (that was getting increasingly more tanned the more times she visited Maranello). The number sixteen contrasted against the red in stark white on her left leg, with her first name also in white and a small Union Jack on her waist. She let out a small excited squeal and placed her team cap back on her head. Seanagh stepped out of the changing cubicle looking at her red puma boots and looked up to see Seb in matching hat and overalls, with the number five in place of the sixteen.

“Not bad” Seanagh ran a hand down one of her arms, the overalls still felt the exact same as her McLaren ones, but there was something about them (not the colour, obviously) that felt so different.

“The incredible amount of red is growing on me” She remarked, quietly thankful for the few splashes of white on her shoulders, the sides of her legs and above her wrists.

“Well it always looks best on the podium” Seb smiled

“You mean the _top_ step of the podium” Seb laughed and held up the phone he was holding in his hands. “Picture?”

“For back home, weird Vettel family tradition” Seanagh smiled and stood closer to her team mate. Seb took a few pictures so he could choose the best one and Maurizio, Vanessa and Antti walked in, the latter two carrying helmets in protective bags. Vanessa had gotten used to Maranello pretty quickly, Richard on the other hand was still nervous about settling in so a brand new team after working at McLaren for so long.

“Well now that you’re dressed, it’s time for the photoshoot”

 

_Friday 19 th February_

“You need to give me some acting lessons” Seb leaned in and whispered in Seanagh’s ear as they watched the short film that built up to the presentation of the car that was less than a hundred meters ahead of them. Sebastian hummed and bounced up on his toes.

“We’ll be fine right?” Seanagh had felt nervous about the lunch for the past three weeks. Seb placed his feet back on the ground and turned to Seanagh and took one of her hands and squeezed it gently.

“We’ll be just fine… _piccolina”_ Seb smirked when he quietly spoke the new nickname that had been given to Seanagh by her mechanics, making a reference to her tiny 5ft 4 frame. Something that her flat shoes didn’t really help with that much. Seanagh smiled and faced forward when music started to fill the small room, and the lights eventually went up and Maurizio walked out to the car. After a couple of minutes of Maurizio speaking about the car and the team (all in Italian of course) he introduced Seanagh and Seb, who both gave each other a reassuring nod before walking out to join their team principal.

They both answered a few questions and spoke about how wonderful the car looked, how well the team had done the previous season and how they wanted to beat those achievements, and in Seanagh’s case the pressure and excitement of driving for the Scuderia.

“It’s an honour in every sense of the word. But it’s also a big challenge for me and one that I hope I’ll do very well in. Already I’ve gotten to know lots of people in the team and we’re all very excited to be working together over the next year” After that they left again and sighed once they had been told their microphones had been turned off, and Maurizio joined them a minute later. The three of them exchanged nods and smiles of approval and waited before going back out in front of the cameras to face some of the fans questions.

“To Seanagh, how does it feel to be working with Sebastian this year?”

“Well, off track Seb is a great person. We’ve known each other since 2013 and we get on very well, so in that sense it’s great to have a team mate that I get on with. But professionally he’s a four time world champion, so it’s a real privilege to be working with him and I hope that – on track at least – I’ll be able to keep him on his toes” Seanagh’s surrounding colleagues all laughed and Seb just stood where he was smiling away very happily.

The rest of the launch went as well as everyone had expected, and the room erupted into applause when the live broadcast had ended. Everyone shook hands and congratulated each other on a successful car launch.

 

_Monday 22 nd February – Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya_

Seanagh let out a long shaky breath as she switched off her car in the circuit car park. She had tried to be inconspicuous by deliberately not coming to the track in a Ferrari but it didn’t seem to work, as the small crowds of people walking to the track had recognised her anyway. She took off her cap and placed it in her bag and went about trying to fix her hair into something that she hoped would look good in paparazzi pictures.

The personnel car park seemed to be filling up by the minute and Seanagh could see drivers and engineers all walking towards the paddock, and with a bit of self-encouragement she decided to do the same. After checking she had all she needed Seanagh opened the car door and quickly shut and locked it behind her before hanging her access pass around her neck as she began to walk to the paddock. She wore a pair of dark brown sunglasses in the hope not too many people recognised her, but it lasted only seconds after she had walked through the entrance barriers.

“Seanagh!” She spun on her toes and was stunned to see Christian Horner waving at her. Seanagh put on her best polite smile and waited until he was stood in front of her.

“Good morning Christian”

“Good morning, I have to say this is a surprise” Christian gestured to Seanagh’s Ferrari gear that she was dressed head to toe in, right down to her dark blue Ferrari branded jeans.

“You and me both”

“Well it’s nice to see you in a car again; I hope you can keep Sebastian occupied”

“That’s the plan” Seanagh smiled realising that the Red Bull boss had been completely aware of her and Seb’s history, and she made a mental note to be extra polite to him for the remainder of the year.

“Well good luck, it’s nice to see you” Seanagh just about managed a smile as Christian dashed off, Seanagh  spun round on her feet again and immediately spotted the Ferrari motorhome. It felt so strange to her, that the massive red building was going to be her new home not just for testing, but for the whole season. Right as Seanagh was about to walk into the motorhome her phone buzzed in her pocket. She looked at the screen and smiled at the sight of a text from Jolyon.

_Don’t worry about the tests; you’re going to do us all proud no matter what x_

Seanagh smiled at the reassurance from her cousin, and for some reason felt compelled to look towards the Renault motorhome, only to see Jolyon standing outside with a proud smile on his face. She turned and looked back at the motorhome before finally walking in, knowing that the next chapter of her career was going to start the second she walked through the doors.


	4. New Shirt, New Team, Same Old Job

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Down Under plays host to the start of the F1 Circus once again

_Thursday 17 th March – Albert Park, Melbourne_

“Look this way please Seanagh!” She looked straight ahead at the sea of photographers and clutched her helmet close to her side. After a lot of deliberation she had kept her design from the 2015 season: stark white with five horizontal thin stripes, three orange and two chrome silver in an alternating pattern, and the number sixteen in orange on the very top. The only change was the addition of a Ferrari shield on the back, alongside all of the Ferrari sponsor logos that circled the top of her helmet.

Over the past couple of months Seanagh was starting to get used to Ferrari, especially since how well pre-season testing had gone for the team. It gave her some hope that she was going to have a good season, and that she would be able to prove herself that she was worth of wearing so much red.

 

“Mr Palmer” Seb cautiously approached Seanagh’s Dad and nervously held out his hand. Mark slowly turned round and looked surprised to see Sebastian standing where he was.

“Oh hello Sebastian. How are you?” Thankfully for Seb he received a firm handshake.

“Very well thank you, yourself?”

“Jetlagged but fine” Mark’s response was clipped, almost telling Seb that he didn’t really want to be having a conversation with him.

“Seanagh was telling me that her brother has almost finished his degree, I was hoping you could wish him all the best for me”

“That’s very kind of you Sebastian, thank you” Mark’s smile that had looked forced at first was beginning to warm a little.

“I’ve seen some of his pictures actually and they’re really good. He has a very bright future”

“Seanagh too hopefully”

“Don’t worry she will, everyone here is very pleased so far. We needed an extra bit of fresh air and… she fits the bill perfectly”

“I’m pleased to hear that, what happened with McLaren really threw her off. All of this is…” Mark paused and gestured around to his red surroundings. “…nothing short of a miracle for her” A part of Seb was so glad that Ferrari had decided to give the seat to her, he knew Seanagh was good enough for the seat and more than deserved it; but on a personal level, he was glad she had something to make her feel worthwhile.

“Hi Dad” The woman herself spoke quietly, peering round Sebastian’s shoulder, still in her cap and overalls with her helmet in hands.

“Hi there sweetheart” Mark spoke through an exhale, and began to look very watery eyed.

“Oh Dad” Seanagh lunged forward and hugged her father tightly. “I think we’ve had enough proud happy tears today” She gently laughed and allowed Mark to dry his eyes. Seb had taken that as his cue to leave when his team mate stopped him.

“You wouldn’t mind taking a picture of Dad and me would you, old Palmer family tradition” Seb could see Mark looking around for anyone else to take the picture, but it appeared that all of the mechanics were still busy putting the cars together.

“Of course” He took Seanagh’s phone and took a few pictures of Mark standing proudly with his arm round his daughter’s shoulders.

“Thanks Seb” Seanagh smiled at him brightly, which earned her a look from her father. Something that Seb took as a note to politely say goodbye and head over to the far side of the garage.

 

“Penny for your thoughts?” Richard looked up started and saw Vanessa leaning on the chair opposite him. Her long blonde hair had been tied up in a high pony tail, showing the Ferrari badge on her team shirt and her name stitched in white thread under it.

“I’m fine Ness”

“You don’t look it” Vanessa raised an eyebrow and sat down opposite Richard, her hazel eyes reading him like an open book. “Everything alright?” Richard looked down at the red access pass he had been examining before; he turned it over and re-read the words printed on the back next to his picture.

_Richard Wilson_

_Press Officer_

_Scuderia Ferrari_

“It’s just…” Richard trailed off, his eyes etched on the team he now worked for. “This is _mad_ ”

Truth be told Richard had never dreamed of leaving McLaren when he had joined them six years ago, and yet last year when Seanagh told him that she was going to Ferrari and wanted Richard to join her he just couldn’t say no. As driver and press officer they had both been through a lot, he’d seen Seanagh first podium, first win, first DNF, the points finishes and the non-points finishes, and over time he had become incredibly close friends with Seanagh and Vanessa, and the thought of not working with them sounded just as alien as Richard being dressed head to toe in Ferrari red. Vanessa just smiled and placed a reassuring hand on top of Richard’s.

“We’ll be fine, the three of us have got each other’s backs okay?” After a few moments Maurizio walked over and addressed the pair.

“Miss Carlton, somebody from the kitchens would like to talk to you about Seanagh’s lunch plans”

“I’ll go see them right away” Vanessa smiled at Richard before she left.

“Stefania wanted to speak with Britta and you about uh…” Maurizio clicked his fingers together trying to remember what it was.

“I think she mentioned something about interviews for tomorrow, I’ll go find her now. Thank you Mr Arrivabene” Richard jumped out of his seat and rushed past the team principal only to be stopped with a firm hand on his shoulder.

“Are you alright Richard?”

“I’m fine, thank you” Richard stammered and nervously tapped his fingers against his legs.

“Good, and just call me Maurizio. You don’t have to be formal with me” Richard nodded and saw Stefania out of the corner of his eye.

“I should be going, thanks boss”

 

_Sunday 20 th March – Australian Grand Prix_

Red flag periods always involved a lot of waiting. To kill some time Seanagh had walked back to the garage to stretch her legs, the TV feed was still intent on showing a replay of Fernando’s crash. Seanagh winced at having to see it again and turned away to re tie her pony tail.

“You alright?” Sebastian walked over from his side of the garage looking slightly concerned.

“Yeah fine… just didn’t want to see that crash again that’s all. Everything okay on your side?” By some stroke of magic Seb was leading a Ferrari 1-2 when the race was red-flagged, but Seanagh’s team mate wasn’t looking overjoyed.

“I think I saw the Mercedes guys change tyres…” Seb huffed and looked up at the timing screen. Seanagh shook her head and looked out onto the pit lane.

“Well we’ll just have to be quicker than them won’t we?” As determined as Seanagh sounded, Seb didn’t seem to buy it as much as she had hoped. “Are we not changing tyres?” Seb gave a shake of the head as Seanagh’s Dad returned to the garage with a big smile on his face.

“You’re doing a wonderful job love” Seanagh smiled as her Dad hugged her round the shoulders. “Same to you Sebastian, nice to see someone other than a Mercedes leading for a change” Seb blushed and replied with a polite thank you when Richard walked into the garage with Maurizio in tow.

“They’re restarting the race in fifteen. Let’s go guys” Richard clapped both drivers on the shoulders before leading them out of the garage.

 

Seanagh pulled her car into the pit box and immediately ducked down as far as she was able to, feeling the heat from the flames from the air box just above her head. Thankfully a marshal was on hand to extinguish the fire allowing Seanagh to safely get out of her car and walk into the garage, not taking off her helmet until she was by her Dad.

“You can’t win them all darling” He gently patted his daughter’s back and kissed her head.

“I’m sorry” Mark tightly hugged his daughter and spoke in a quiet whisper.

“It’s not your fault love; just have to try again next time. Still you ran in second on your Ferrari debut, and lead for a few laps, I’m so proud of you”

“Thanks Dad” Seanagh looked up at the timing screen, which showed Sebastian in third place. “Well I need to go do press, fill me in when I get back”

 

The Ferrari garage was on the whole jovial at Sebastian scoring third place, but in some of the faces on the pit wall showed signs of sadness at what could have been had they opted for a different strategy, and if Seanagh’s engine hadn’t caught fire. But despite that the team were happy to be bringing some silverware back to Maranello. The events after the race were quite a blur, and Seanagh didn’t see Sebastian until almost an hour after the race.

“Hey, I heard about your car. I’m so sorry”

“It’s alright, these things happen” Seanagh smiled as Britta joined them. “You had a good race today though, well done”

“Thanks” Seb squeezed Seanagh’s shoulders and turned to Britta. “Defrief’s in ten right?” Britta nodded and laughed as Sebastian nearly tripped as he jogged over to the stairs.

“I see he’s still…” Seanagh watched to make sure her team mate didn’t actually injure himself walking up the rest of the stairs.

“An idiot?”

“Something like that” Seanagh shook her head and took the bottle of water Britta had brought her. “Speaking of the debrief I should probably go”

“See you later, and Seanagh?” She turned round and looked at Britta. “There’s always Bahrain”


	5. Ending the Drought?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There's a first time for everything

_Sunday 3 rd April – Bahrain International Circuit_

Seanagh had been one of the first drivers onto the parade truck, Jolyon had peeled off to go and talk to Marcus as usual leaving Seanagh stood by herself shyly waving to the fans in the main grandstand.

“Hi stranger” Seanagh turned round, her face breaking into a relieved smile when she saw who was standing opposite her.

“Hi Mia” The two friends hugged each other tightly and rooted themselves at a spot next to the barrier.

“I almost still can’t believe it you know” The Scot gestured to Seanagh’s Ferrari gear and shook her head. “I’m pretty sure we joked about this happening when we were drunk one” Seanagh laughed and steadied herself as the truck pulled away to start the Driver’s Parade.

“You’re not doing too bad yourself you know” Seanagh pointed at the Renault badge on Mia’s yellow shirt, who just replied with a small smile. “You and me driving for the big guns huh?”

“It’s mental” Mia sighed and leaned over the barrier as they cruised past empty parts of track.

“I’m sorry we’ve gone out of touch a bit, the end of last year was just so _busy_ ”

“Hey it’s alright; we were trying to save our careers. It’s understandable. We can keep in touch now though can’t we?” Mia smiled and patted Seanagh on the shoulder. “I’m proud of us you know” Seanagh smiled and stood up straight, seeing the camera crew edge closer.

“I’m proud of us too”

 

Jenson nervously waited by the side of the truck, he had been the first to jump off once the parade was over, and was hoping he could speak to a certain someone before they got caught up in race prep. Finally he saw her with Mia and walked alongside them.

“I better go I see you have company” Mia winked at Jenson and walked off with Jolyon, Seanagh turned round and initially had a puzzled look on her face before smiling.

“Hello”

“Walk with me?” Seanagh nodded and the pair tried to not walk too slowly towards the paddock. “How’s it going then?”

“Good actually” Seanagh nodded with a sigh. “It’s nice to see you” They hadn’t seen much of each other in testing, and as much as Jenson had wanted to speak to his old team mate at the last race he had somehow talked himself out of it.

“I just wanted to say good luck” Jenson stopped once they were back in the paddock and held out his hand, Seanagh shook it with a small smile.

“Same to you Jenson”

“Ferrari really don’t know how lucky they are” Jenson saw Mikey waiting for him and gave Seanagh a final smile before they walked in different directions back towards their teams.

 

“Seb isn’t starting the race due to an engine problem, so we need you to watch your engine for the first few laps”

“Okay” Seanagh let out a sigh as she looked up at the lights above the start line, pushing the empty grid slot next to her out of her thoughts. She knew in the back of her mind that all of the pressure was now on her to give the team a great result, but all she was focused on were the five red lights illuminating one after the other.

When they went out she eased out of her grid spot and was instantly on the back of the Mercs, but was quickly passed by both the Williams after bogging down in the second phase of her start. One of the Williams cars went into one of the Mercedes at turn one, allowing Seanagh to pass them both. She deliberately broke a little bit too late for turn four to overtake one of the Haas cars. By the end of the first lap Seanagh was in P5, with one Red Bull and both Williams cars and the other Mercedes in front.

“Just keep your head down, you can do this”

 

“Nine second gap to Rosberg, nine seconds” Seanagh had been in second since lap thirty or so, stuck at a constant eight to ten second gap behind the Mercedes. The only good thing that she could see was the fact Lewis was miles behind her, so wouldn’t be challenging her for P2, which was a small bit of relief. All she had to do was keep the car on track and she would be bringing home a decent haul of points.

_“And while Rosberg takes the win, Seanagh Palmer, the 27 year old from Northampton, finishes second for Ferrari! Her first podium since the 2014 Australian Grand Prix and first for Scuderia Ferrari. And while it isn’t a win it’s a great result that she has to be incredibly proud of…”_

 

It wasn’t until Seanagh crossed the finish line that she had realised what she had just done. A podium finish, in a Ferrari at the second race of the season, she was suddenly feeling so overwhelmed that she started to cry.

“Congratulations Seanagh well done, hopefully the first of many” Seanagh could hear clapping and cheering in the background of Maurizio’s voice, and it even sounded like the emotions were getting to the boss as well.

“Thanks guys, I’m sorry it couldn’t be one better” Seanagh paused and coughed away a lump in the throat. “Thank you for everything this weekend. Grazie ragazzi, Forza Ferrari!”

“Great job team mate, great job”

 

Seb gave the headset back to Maurizio and shook hands with the surrounding engineers on the pit wall celebrating a job well done – for one car at least.

 

Once free of the various wires and cables attaching her to the car, Seanagh jumped into the arms of her mechanics (who were cheering far louder than the Mercedes guys were) with the biggest smile on her face. Her number one mechanic went as far as thanking her with watery eyes. Seanagh beamed and picked up her helmet from her car and headed over to scrutineering to be weighed before heading up to the podium after a brief wave to the gathering crowd. As she turned away she caught the briefest glimpse of Sebastian, who appeared to be giving a thumbs up of approval and a smile.

As she walked into the cool down room Nico dived towards her, congratulating her with a big hug and a friendly kiss on the cheek.

“Well done you did a brilliant job out there”

“Cheers mate” Seanagh gently placed her helmet down on the large white table and took a long drink of water before picking up the second place Pirelli cap which she proudly put on her head.

When she was called out to the podium the crowd gave her a massive cheer, Seanagh leaned over the edge and fist-bumped the air and smiled down at her mechanics that were chanting ‘Forza Piccolina’ over and over again. She eventually took her place on the second step, and counted the seconds until she got her trophy.

As soon as the dignitaries left Seanagh was dripping in rose water thanks to Nico and Lewis, thankfully she had managed to get them back before their bottles were almost empty and the three drivers stood on the top step of the podium for the official photograph. Seanagh didn’t pay much attention to what Nico had to say in his interview, and was more interested in the sea of British and Italian flags being waved by the many fans that had gathered on the track.

“I’ll just move along to Seanagh. For one Brit to another, massive congratulations on your podium today, your first for Scuderia Ferrari” DC shook Seanagh’s hand firmly.

“Thank you”

“You were lacking a little bit of pace this afternoon, but looking good for the rest of the season?”

“I hope so yeah, these first two races have been okay for us, some reliability concerns but hopefully that can get sorted. Unfortunately my start let me down today, it wasn’t the best by any means, but I’m standing here talking to you now so obviously I feel like I recovered well. Sadly it wasn’t a win today, but it’s a long season so we’ll wait and see”

“Now this is your first podium for Ferrari, you looked pretty emotional getting out the car, how much does this mean to you?”

“It means so much it really does; it’s great knowing I’ve proved myself to the team today. And I really hope that I can do so again very soon”

 

Seb was so pleased to see his team celebrating after the race, while the engine failure he had on the formation lap was causing him some concern he tried to put it in the back of his mind for the moment, today had been a good day and he really didn’t want to spoil it for anyone. He had been waiting at the top of the stairs for Seanagh to emerge from her driver room so he could congratulate her. Eventually she did, having changed from her overalls to her team gear with her hair in a high ponytail.

“Hello Sebastian” Seb smiled and clapped his team mate on the shoulder.

“Congratulations, you were amazing out there today”

“Thanks” Seanagh smiled and out of nowhere the two drivers hugged – albeit briefly. “I’m sorry you couldn’t make the start” Seb just shrugged and put his hands in his pockets and looked down at everyone in hospitality.

“It’s good to see everyone happy”

“You did that” Seanagh blushed as Maurizio emerged from his office. He walked over to Seanagh and enveloped her in an almost suffocating hug.

“You did a wonderful job, well done” Maurizio eventually let go of his driver and clapped her on the shoulders. Reluctantly Maurizio led both of his drivers downstairs for the race de-brief where Seanagh was met with thunderous applause, Seb just smiled and happily clapped along with them.


	6. Downs and Ups

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Crash, Bang, Wallop...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank to everyone who has read/left kudos so far, it's much appreciated <3

_Sunday 17 th April – Shanghai International Circuit_

The walk from the front of the grid where all the drivers were stood for the national anthem, to the second row where both Ferrari’s were was thankfully very short. Seanagh and Seb had chosen to walk to their cars together, the latter resting his hand on the small of the former’s back.

“So, how does it feel to be third on the grid?” Seb asked with a cheeky grin.

“Oh I don’t know, how does it feel to be _fourth_ on the grid?” Seanagh retorted, Seb threw his head back and chuckled. They stopped when they had reached Seanagh’s car, the early afternoon Chinese sunshine making the red paint almost glow.

“Good luck” Seb extended his hand and Seanagh shook it firmly.

“Good luck” They exchanged a small nod before heading over to their respective engineers to prepare for the start of the race.

 

Seb saw Seanagh launch ahead of him as soon as the lights went out, he knew the approach to turn one was going to be difficult given how close together the field was at the never ending first sequence of corners. From Seb’s view Seanagh had gotten close to the back of Nico who had been passed by Daniel, but she went wide after locking up one of her tyres, which gave Seb the opportunity to make a pass.

That was, until a Red Bull came out of nowhere attempting an almost impossible manoeuvre down Seb’s inside, forcing him wide – into his team mate.

Seb cursed – mentally and verbally – at the sight of Seanagh’s car spearing off the track with her front wing already detached.

“Okay I made contact; I had no chance to avoid the Red Bull coming up the inside like a madman. And I hit Seanagh; I think my nose is damaged” Seb shook his head as he switched off the radio and muttered to himself. “I am so, so sorry”

 

“I’ve got major damage, no front wing. I need to box” Even Seanagh, amidst trying to not go off track for the second time, was surprised at how calm she sounded. She didn’t want to start blaming Seb after only a few corners, she knew he wouldn’t dare take out his teammate in front of _the_ Sergio Marchionne. He was much better than that. Plus trying to apportion blame to someone while driving and F1 car without a front wing was quite challenging.

“Confirm box, it’ll be a long stop so be patient”

“Copy, copy” _Guys I am so, so sorry._ Seanagh muttered with slightly watery eyes as she came into the pits at the end of the first lap. Although she didn’t feel what happened was her fault she still felt guilty for what had happened. After her new set of tyres and front wing were fitted Seanagh blinked away her tears and focused on what had quickly become a recovery race.

 

Second and fifth. _Second and bloody fifth._ Seanagh had left scrutineering faster than Nico had won the race so Seb didn’t have a chance to apologise to her for what happened. So instead he had to just look at the timing screen at the top of the stairwell outside the cool down room and try to calm down. He joked with Nico in German which did help initially, and Seb genuinely thought he had calmed down, but somehow one simple question from Kvyat just set him off.

“What happened at the start?” Seb turned and started firing words at him without thinking.

“You! Asking what happened at the start? If I don’t go to the left you go into us and we all three crash out”

“Well I was…”

“Well?! No well! You came in like a torpedo” Seb cut him off, to angry to let Daniil defend himself. He still had the image of turn one in his head, the Red Bull cutting up his inside, forcing Seb to go left right into the second car.

“Well that’s racing” The young Russian even had the audacity to laugh.

“Racing but, you know, if I keep going the same line – we’ll crash!”

“Then don’t keep going”

“Yeah, but there was a car on the left also” His team mate. His poor team mate…

“I can’t see all three cars, I have only two eyes. Come on” At that point Seb didn’t want to hear any more of what Kvyat had to say and took a long drink of water and towelled down his face.

“You need to expect that when you attack like crazy – you damage a car”

“Well I was lucky”

“Yeah, _you_ were lucky this time. I had damage and Seanagh had damage”

“Well I’m on the podium so it’s okay; we’re all on the podium. It’s fine” Seb just shook his head and zipped his overalls down to his waist and took another few glugs from his bottle of water, knowing fine and well that his team mate certainly wasn’t on the podium.

 

Seanagh finally took off her helmet when she reached the garage. She pressed the heels of her hands against her eyes to stop herself from crying but it was no use. After a few moments she felt hands rub her back and two familiar English accents comfort her.

“Hey, stop that now it’s alright” Vanessa side hugged her driver and spoke softly. “You finished the race, got ten points and beat Lewis. You recovered so well” Seanagh bit down on her lip at the word ‘recovered’. She knew she could have been on the podium, probably alongside Seb too. At least one of them was there.

“How long do you want to wait before we see the press?” Richard asked, watching his driver with a cautious gaze.

“When I’ve stopped being an emotional mess. And I want to speak to Channel 4 first”

“Okay” Richard gave a small smile and patted Seanagh’s back and took a few steps away allowing Maurizio with his cold gaze and stern expression to take his place.

“I am so, so sorr-” He silently held up a hand and placed an arm round his driver.

“We will talk about it in the debrief. Go and speak to the press” Seanagh nodded and placed her team cap on her head and tightened her ponytail before grabbing her drinks bottle and followed Richard towards the press pen. Luckily Lee wasn’t speaking to anyone and gave Seanagh a reassuring smile and waited a few moments before asking her questions.

“Seanagh we know today wasn’t the race you wanted. Can you tell us about how you’re feeling right now?”

“I’m…” Seanagh shook her head and blinked back more tears. “Pretty upset to be honest… sure fifth place is fine but I should have been on the podium with Seb today. I had the pace yesterday and I knew I would have delivered today were there not any problems”

“You mention problems, have you seen the replay footage from turn one at all? Or can you tell us what happened at the start?” Lee asked cautiously.

“No I haven’t seen any replays yet. But I uh… went a bit wide trying to get past Nico after one of my tyres locked-up, and then suddenly Seb and one of the Red Bulls came out of nowhere as I was trying to re-join the track and… we crashed” Seanagh coughed to clear away the lump in her throat.

“Will you speak to him later to clear the air?”

“Well, there isn’t that much air to clear. But yes I will speak to him soon to get his side of the story”

“And looking forward to Russia how do you think Ferrari will do?”

“Good I think, we have the pace and we’ll be aiming to be on the podium again”

“Thank you” Seanagh sighed, gave Lee a small smile and moved onto the next journalist.

 

Maurizio closely watched his drivers after the end of the team debrief, Seanagh was slow in leaving and tried to blend in while Sebastian almost ran for the doors and headed outside. He had already spoken to them both and stopped them from apologising because it wasn’t necessary, because as far as he was concerned they weren’t at fault. Maurizio watched Sebastian as he leaned over the wooden railing looking over the rest of the team hospitality units that sat on the water, he heard Seanagh’s voice speaking to some of her mechanics before she too caught sight of her teammate and headed outside to talk with him. Maurizio decided to stay where he was to watch the encounter, and decided to strike up a conversation with one of the strategists to not make it look so obvious.

 

Seanagh took in a deep breath before heading outside to see Sebastian. He was hunched over the wooden railing staring out into the paddock. It reminded Seanagh of 2014 when they were still seeing each other, when luck never seemed to go their way.

“Hey” Sebastian half-turned to look at her and sighed. “You’re not actually beating yourself over the start are you?”

“I…” He huffed and went back to leaning over the railing.

“I’m not mad at you. I’ve seen a few replays, and it wasn’t really your fault” Seanagh cautiously put a hand on her team mate’s shoulder. “You’re the only one here sulking Seb, and if I were you I wouldn’t bother” Seb turned and looked up at Seanagh with a very small smile on his face.

“You called me Seb”

“And?” Seanagh removed her hand from Seb’s shoulder allowing him to stand up straight.

“Well ever since we… um… you know” He waved his hands around in the air, not really wanting to mention their break-up. “You’ve always called me Sebastian”

“Just being friendly” Seanagh shrugged, the reality being that she had gotten used to being around him all the time, the old habit of using his nickname had resurfaced surprisingly quickly. “Anyway” Seanagh clapped Seb on the shoulder and kept her hand there. “We’ve probably got some fights to catch” Seb nodded and placed his hand on Seanagh’s back as the pair walked back into hospitality.

 

Maurizio had been able to watch the whole encounter between his two drivers without too much trouble. On the whole it seemed amicable, but professional (something he was very relieved at). They both walked back in together and Seb thanked Seanagh for going to speak to him. They shared a joke and a laugh before going their separate ways to their private rooms and Maurizio began to smile to himself. Signing Seanagh as Sebastian’s team mate was turning out to be one of the most interesting decisions he had ever made.


	7. Old Memories

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lightning doesn't strike in the same place twice, or does it?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Since I probably won't be able to post tomorrow have this one a day early.

_Wednesday 27 th April – Driver’s Hotel, Sochi_

The corridor that Sebastian was walking down was far too familiar. The burgundy carpet still looked fluffy and new, and the beige wallpaper hadn’t even faded or peeled. When Seb had found his room he almost laughed to hide the shock, it was the room that Seanagh had stayed in two years ago. The room he had ended their relationship in.

He would be lying if he said he didn’t regret what he did, because a part of him never wanted to break up with her. Even if he knew it was going to happen one day because a relationship between two racing drivers was _never_ going to work out.

“You always go for the dramatics don’t you Sebastian” He muttered to himself in his native German while pulling out his phone to send a text to his Mum letting her know he’d arrived at the hotel. After a quick shower Seb got changed and headed down to the restaurant for an early dinner, and it seemed that Seanagh had the same idea. Either she had no idea what hotel they were at or she was a wonderful actress, and he was willing to bet on the latter.

“Hey” She smiled at him brightly like she always did. “The uh… restaurant isn’t open yet apparently. Not for another five minutes”

“Oh” Seb looked at his watch and saw it read five minutes to seven. They ended up eating dinner together and only discussed the upcoming race, Seb felt far too unnecessarily awkward to talk about anything else.

“Well hopefully” She began as they now walked down one of the hotel corridors after dinner. “A certain young Russian won’t crash into us”

“Yes let’s hope so” Seb smirked and pulled out his keycard.

“Anyway, see you tomorrow” She politely smiled and turned away and headed down to the far end of the corridor where her room was. Seb got changed and climbed into bed and texted his brother for an hour or so before watching Russian TV for a couple of hours (which he didn’t understand at all) and after a lot of self-encouragement went off to dream land.

 

_Thursday 28 th April – Sochi Autodrom_

Seanagh laughed as she shared a joke with her mechanics, while scribbling the last few notes into her track walk notebook about the exit of turn nineteen.

“And the start/finish line is still the same, si?” Over the past few weeks she had started throwing in the odd ‘si’ or ‘ciao’ when with her mechanics to try and make them feel more comfortable with each other.

“Si, si” Her chief mechanic nodded and placed his hands on his hips, squinting his eyes in the sunlight. “I think I see your cousin” Seanagh looked in the direction he was pointing in and saw a small crowd of yellow shirts. She hummed and looked over her notes.

“Seanagh” The small group looked up and saw Maurizio walking over to them.

“Hello, is everything alright?” He placed a hand on her back and led her away towards the pit lane, her mechanics followed a few feet behind.

“I need you to speak to Sebastian at lunch” He leaned down and spoke quietly.

“Why, is everything okay?” Seanagh pretended to read her notes and closed her book.

“He hasn’t been himself, I just need you to see that everything with him is alright” Seanagh hummed before replying. She wondered why Maurizio was asking her to talk to Seb, unless himself, Britta and Antti had already tried and hadn’t had much luck.

“Okay, I’ll see what I can do” She smiled at her boss who gave a nervous smile back. “Don’t worry; I’m sure it’s nothing”

 

Seanagh made sure to be quick in eating her lunch, but not too quick that anyone – particularly Seb – would notice. She wiped her mouth with a napkin and picked up both her notebooks and stood up from her seat.

“I just need to speak to Seb about something, be right back” She fixed the collar of her shirt and cautiously approached him, who was staring down at his phone with half of an empty plate that looked to have been pushed away. “Uh Seb” His head snapped up and didn’t say anything for a moment.

“Hi” He seemed shocked that Seanagh was even speaking to him, so much so that his hand had frozen mid-scroll.

“I need to speak to you about something I noticed on my track walk, I thought you would be the best person to ask”

“Okay, where on the track?” He stood up and pulled on his Ferrari sweatshirt.

“Uh…” Seanagh quickly turned to her notes. “First sector I think” She was so surprised that he had believed her excuse that she had quickly come up with over lunch.

“Alright then” He took a few steps towards the glass double doors that led to the paddock. “Let’s go” Seanagh quickly walked towards him and followed him into the paddock. They awkwardly discussed lunch and the weather before walking down the pit lane and heading onto the circuit. “So what was bothering you on the track walk?”

“Oh it was…” Seanagh flicked through the pages of her notebook and briefly looked up trying to find a semi-private spot. “The barriers here at turn 3” They walked over to the barriers and just before they got there Seanagh stopped.

“Everything alright?”

“Yeah…” Seanagh paused and walked over to Seb’s side. “Is everything alright with you?” She asked cautiously, Seb sighed and leaned against the barrier.

“Why do you ask?”

“It’s just that you looked a little down at lunch, that’s all” Seb’s eyebrows knotted together as he slowly scratched his head.

“So that’s why you wanted out of the hospitality area” Seanagh looked at her team mate, figuring that the truth would be a lot more easier to tell.

“If it’s because we’re staying at the same hotel that we were two years ago then…” Seanagh trailed off and looked over at the flags that went round turn three, the British and German ones immediately standing out to her. “It’s not bothering me, so it shouldn’t be bothering you Seb. I thought we’d put our relationship behind us anyway”

“We have, I just… have a lot of memories about then. That’s all” Seanagh sighed and leaned against the barrier.

“I don’t think wallowing about it is going to change anything”

“But… aren’t you mad at me?”

“No” Seanagh shook her head and looked directly at her team mate. “I was for a little while but after a few months… I understood why you did it. I mean you driving for Ferrari and me being McLaren’s reserve at the time, it wouldn’t have worked. No matter how hard we would have tried, we would have broken up eventually”

 

Sebastian admired Seanagh for her honesty at times, he felt it was one of the reasons he (had) loved her. Seb looked down and traced shapes on the barrier with his finger.

“I hate it when you’re right” He sighed and looked up at Seanagh who obviously felt sympathy towards him. She patted his arm gave it a gentle squeeze.

“If it makes you feel any better, I still care about you. Which is why, I need you to let this go for your sake”

“I _really_ hate it when you’re right” Seb gave the smallest of laughs and him and Seanagh briefly hugged before turning to head back to the paddock.

 

Maurizio checked his watch for the fifth time in about ten minutes. He’d seen Seanagh and Sebastian leave, and had been on the lookout since waiting for them to return. After another few minutes he ventured out to the paddock and heard a chorus of laughter, he turned to his right and saw both of his drivers and sighed with relief.

“There you are, everything alright?”

“Just fine boss” He took Seanagh’s reply as confirmation that whatever problem Sebastian had been having was sorted, and he led his drivers into the engineering meeting that they were fifteen minutes late for.

 

_Sunday 1 st May _

“For fucks sake! What the… Oh I’m out! Crashed! Somebody hit me in the fucking rear, turn two! And then somebody hit me in the fucking rear again in turn three! For fucks sake honestly, what the fuck are we doing here?!” Seb just shook his head and jumped out of the car to put his broken front wing into the cockpit of his car before walking back to the pit lane. Maurizio was understandably furious. But it wasn’t going to change anything; Seb was still in the back of the garage and his team mate was (as far as he was aware) still racing. Britta came over and said nothing and just handed him his cap which Seb refused.

“I’m having a shower and getting changed. _Then_ I’ll talk to the press”

 

“Unless something happens to the Mercedes is third the best you can expect at the moment?” Seanagh sighed at Will Buxton’s question and scratched the back of her neck.

“No I don’t think so; this car that we’re driving is a really great car. I just think that we haven’t had a lot of luck the past few faces. That’s the way racing works, sometimes everything goes well and you win and sometimes you don’t. I know everyone is expecting us to win, but sometimes it takes a while for things to fall into place to allow you to compete for victory”

“When is that going to happen? Mercedes have looked unbeatable since the start of the year”

“Not Mercedes, _Nico Rosberg_ has been unbeatable. Lewis has been having problems, just like Seb and myself have over the past two races… we just need a clean weekend and we’ll be there. Right now it doesn’t seem so great for us but we’re constantly working hard to get back to the top step. Ferrari is a great team and we are constantly improving ourselves to do better and to beat the other guys”

“But just _when_ is that first win of the season going to be?”

“Soon, it would be silly of me to say where or in how many races but soon”


	8. Another Little Piece of History

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When Lady Luck arrives at your door you welcome her in with both arms

_Thursday 12 th May – Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya_

Will rummaged through all of his camera bags for his red VIP pass, and only found it when he looked in his backpack under his sister’s instruction. Once it was safely in his hand Will placed the pass round his neck and closed all of the zips and pockets he had opened.

“I’ve got the passports here” Seanagh tapped the edge of the small compartment that was in front of the handbrake. Just then they passed the signs that would direct traffic into the various circuit car parks, the siblings instructed each other in the right direction towards the track. “Here we are” Seanagh found the right exit from the motorway and followed more signs for ‘F1 PERSONNEL CAR PARK’ until a smiling face greeted her at the entrance and quickly checked their passes and ID.

“All the Ferrari guys are over there; have a nice weekend”

“Thank you” Seanagh followed the woman’s directions and found an empty space in between Maurizio’s and Seb’s cars. She switched off the ignition and undid her seatbelt and swiftly put on her sunglasses.

“I’ll look after those” Will picked the passports up and placed them in his bag before carefully opening the door and getting out the car. Seanagh and Will walked into the paddock together, with the occasional pause as people came up to Seanagh and asked her for pictures and autographs.

“Enjoy the weekend guys” She smiled at the group of three and led her brother into the very red Ferrari motorhome. “It’s not that intimidating Will don’t worry” Will just hummed and looked around the paddock before walking through the doors a few steps behind his sister. He let out a quiet slow whistle once inside and took off his sunglasses to get a better look at his surroundings: the red theme from outside was carried through indoors, and the hospitality floor was buzzing with conversation and activity. But there was this atmosphere inside the building (enhanced by the red and pictures of Seanagh and Seb’s cars in action) that this was _Ferrari_ ; and you were reminded of that fact wherever you were. Will gulped and straightened his posture so he looked like he knew where he was.

“Will!” He jumped slightly as his sister waved him over where she was standing – right next to her boss Maurizio Arrivabene. “This is my brother Will” Seanagh introduced him with a wide smile and Maurizio was first to extend his hand.

“It’s very nice to meet you, Seanagh has spoken of you a lot” Will tried his best to not look so flustered. “You are a photographer right?”

“Y-yes I am, I’ve just finished my final year at university and I’m graduating in June”

“I’ve been told you’re staying behind for the test?”

“Yeah I have a photographers pass so I’ll be taking pictures for my portfolio, motorsport photography has always been a great interest of mine” Will beamed, Maurizio’s stance – his arms folded, and rolled up shirt sleeves revealing a few tattoos – already had made Will feel at ease. He quickly learned that the people at Ferrari carried their prestige in a very different way to those at McLaren. Some (though definitely not all) carried it like a weight or a burden due to the stress that the Honda partnership had brought, but everyone at Ferrari smiled with pride at the famous prancing horse that everyone wore on their chests.

“Well I need to get going I have to talk to the press, but it was very nice to meet you Will” Maurizio gave both Palmers a nod before walking out of the motorhome’s glass doors. Will exhaled slightly and tightly gripped the bag strap that was on his shoulder.

“You can keep your stuff in my room, come on its upstairs” Seanagh led the way up the flight of stairs to an area that had no red in sight and was just made up of white doors with small plaques on each of them. “This one’s mine”

Seanagh proudly pointed at the plaque on the door with her name on it next to a Scuderia Ferrari logo and opened the door wide letting her and Will in. “It’s nothing much, pretty similar to McLaren really” Will closed the door behind him.

“Definitely bigger though” Seanagh just hummed and took her team cap out of her bag.

“Yeah I’ll give you that” Will’s sister hadn’t stopped smiling since she had walked into the paddock, and he wasn’t the only one who had noticed. Their Dad had mentioned it after the race in Bahrain, and ever since then Will was always on the lookout for his sister’s smile.

“You’re really happy here aren’t you?” Seanagh paused and nodded with a wide grin.

“Ferrari has been… one of the best things to even happen to me. The team is so great, everyone has the same passion to do well, it really feels like a proper family” After seeing his sister at rock bottom after being let go by McLaren, Will was glad his sister was happy again. Family bias or not he felt like she deserved all the happiness in the world. “And surprisingly working with Seb is nowhere near as awkward as expected”

“Oh?” Will was going to ask about Seb, she must have read his mind.

“Yeah we talked about it earlier on in the year and put everything behind us, nothing much more to say about it really”

“I’m glad” Will smiled again and fiddled with the pass round his neck. “Do you want something to drink from downstairs?”

“Great idea” Seanagh led the way back down to the hospitality area where they got a couple bottles of water – and ran into Sebastian.

 

Seb took off his sunglasses once inside the Ferrari motorhome and quickly headed upstairs to dump his bags in his private room before going to get some water and head for a quick run before his press duties. Luckily for him there were only two figures at the bar area – Seanagh and her younger brother Will.

“Good morning Seanagh” They both turned round briefly sharing the same confused look before Seanagh’s face split into its usual smile.

“Hey Seb, you remember my brother Will right?”

“Yes, yes I do. It’s nice to see you again, how’s university?” Seb nervously shook his hand.

“Good, yeah. Pretty great. I finished for good last week actually. I graduate in a month or so.” Will seemed to be just as nervous as Seb was.

“That’s very good to hear, best of luck with everything”

“Thank you”

“Seanagh have you heard who’s in the press conference today?” Seb asked after getting a bottle of water that felt almost freezing against his hands.

“Well I’m one of the lucky ones I know that much” Seb jokingly patted her shoulder. “Luckily for Will he has his camera with him so he won’t get bored”

“Yeah I’m thinking of taking some photos of the circuit, I need some nice ones for my portfolio. I don’t really have that many of circuits that I really like” Will huffed and slid down a little in his chair.

“The uphill section in the middle sector would look nice, but I’m sure you’ll find something” Seb reassured him and caught the gaze of Britta when she walked through the doors. “I best get going, nice to see you again Will. Bye Seanagh” He smiled at them both and headed in Britta’s direction and greeted her in German. “Hey”

“Hey, making friends with the ex-girlfriends brother I see” Britta joked and gently nudged Seb’s side.

“Not funny”

 

Britta had been leading Seb around journalists for about an hour now, while she did love her job and working with Sebastian, some points on Thursday’s were very tedious. Seanagh was a few meters away speaking to one of her national broadcasters and Britta briefly met Richard’s eyes and they both made a face before turning their attention back to their drivers.

Despite how well Seanagh and Seb had been getting on, Britta was worried about the emotional toll it was taking on Sebastian. Britta was one of the very few that knew Seb only broke up with her because he felt he had to – not because he wanted to as he had made out to his family. She knew that deep down he still missed her, and that he was finding it difficult to keep the relationship both amicable and professional because in Russia it was very obvious that his feelings were still sometimes getting in the way.

 

_Friday 13 th May_

“I think you guys should be okay just here” Seanagh led her family into the back of the Ferrari garage; the mechanics were busy on both sides preparing the cars for the upcoming free practice session.

“This is nice” Seanagh’s Mum looked around seeming to be very impressed with the whole place, while Will had already sat down on the bench with his headset around his neck.

“Will…” Seanagh walked over to him and placed her helmet on the shelf on his right. “I’ll need you to leave that spot eventually” Will gave a small shrug and replied with a simple ‘okay’ and just sat and looked around the garage.

“So did you get some good track notes yesterday darling?” Seanagh’s Dad asked walking over away from the car.

“Yeah, the track is still the same from two years ago, it’s just re-learning turning and breaking points and such” Seanagh held onto the part of her overalls that were hanging on her hips and carefully put her arms through her sleeves.

“Hey guys we’re on TV” Will pointed over Seanagh’s shoulder, to which Seanagh looked in that direction and waved with a smile at the camera before resuming the conversation with her family.

“Um where was I…”

“Breaking points” Seanagh and her family were all startled by Seb suddenly jumping into the conversation with a hand on Seanagh’s shoulder. “It’s the 150 meter board for turn one if you were wondering” He winked and headed over to his side of the garage laughing to himself.

“Thanks team mate, hey remember the thing we discussed about letting me past on lap one”

“No I don’t think I remember that” The two teammates laughed and turned their attention back to family members or mechanics.

“So, you two are getting along well?” Seanagh’s Mum asked sounding very curious.

“Yeah, all perfectly civil and professional” She zipped up her overalls almost to the top leaving the Velcro neck strap at the top undone. “And yet you all look-”

“Seanagh!” She turned at the sound of her race engineer Dave Greenwood. “Session starts in three”

“Okay”

“Best of luck darling” Seanagh’s Dad hugged his daughter’s side and kissed her head.

“It’s just first practice Dad”

“Just, keep it on track” Seanagh’s Mum smiled and placed a hand on her husband’s arm so she could whisper something in his ear. Will silently gestured for the two of them to take a selfie before Seanagh headed over to her engineers to discuss the team’s plans for FP1.

 

A minute or so before the session started Seanagh and Will’s parents had left the garage part way through their conversation – obviously it was getting a little heated given the topic.

“Hello Will”

“Hey Seb” Will wondered why Seanagh’s team mate had gone to speak to him right at the start of practice “Everything alright on your side?”

“Yes, yes everything’s fine. I really don’t want to pry but are your parents alright? I saw them leave just before” Seb genuinely looked concerned, Will of course had no idea why.

“Yeah I think they just wanted to have their conversation in private. They don’t want to distract Seanagh too much”

“Right, okay. Has the hospitality been good to you?”

“Yeah it’s been fine; I think that’s the least of your problems though surely” Will was a bit confused as to why Seb was suddenly fussing over him and his parents.

“Yeah well… I best get going, I hope you enjoy the session” Seb placed a gentle hand on Will’s shoulder before walking away again.

“Thanks, best of luck” Will turned to his sister who seemed to have watched part of the exchange, they both shrugged and turned their attention back to what they were doing without much thought.

 

_Saturday 14 th May – Qualifying_

Seanagh followed Richard’s lead into the bustling media pen that was packed with drivers and press officers; it was so busy that they had to wait for a few minutes for a journalist to become free – something that was almost as rare as Ferrari’s lack of performance in qualifying.

“Seanagh that definitely wasn’t the qualifying you or Sebastian expected; just what happened out there for you two?”

“Third row of the grid is definitely not where we expected or wanted to be today, our pace in all of the practice sessions has been really great so to be fifth and sixth is very baffling. We’re going to have some very long meetings to see just where we’ve gone wrong and how we can rectify that for tomorrow”

“Is the fact that you out qualified Sebastian a small comfort?”

“Yeah, it’s a pretty small comfort though”

 

_Sunday 15 th May – Spanish Grand Prix_

“So Seanagh, tough qualifying for you yesterday but you are ahead of your team mate. What do you think is possible today?” DC had dived in right after one of the girls from Sky Italia with his Channel 4 mic in hand.

“Umm, I’m not sure. Our race pace seems to be okay so maybe we can beat one Red Bull, hopefully two and see what we can do from there”

“Would you say a podium is out of the question?”

“Are you kidding?! Nothing’s out of the question if you wish hard enough” Seanagh smiled and DC thanked her before running off to grab another driver.

“And the award for cheesiest line goes to…” Vanessa handed Seanagh her cap with a sigh.

“Sorry, I just have a really good feeling about today” Seanagh shrugged and tightened her ponytail before placing her cap firmly on her head.

“That last time you had a really good feeling your engine caught fire in Australia”

“Yeah” Seanagh shrugged as she turned to head for the top of the grid for the national anthem. “But Seb made the podium though”

 

One light. Two lights. Three, four and then five. Seanagh’s hand was pressed hard on the clutch paddle, her eyes fixed on the glowing red lights. The second they went out she let go of the paddle and pressed hard on the accelerator heading fast for turn one. She could feel the car beneath her launching away telling her she had made a great start; that feeling was enhanced by overtaking one of the Red Bull’s round turn 3.

“Good job Seanagh good job, just keep your head down” Right as Dave had spoken, there was a huge cloud of dust in the gravel trap at turn 4, which quickly cleared to reveal both Mercedes cars. Seanagh quickly looked at the dash on her steering wheel which now read P2 in the top left corner.

“Let’s win this one guys!” Seanagh radioed back to the team trying to give them a small confidence boost that a win was within their grasp once again.

 

After five or six laps Seanagh had already closed up to the back of the other Red Bull, which was proving difficult to pass. Seanagh waited until the slower last sector and tried a move at turn ten, before actually over taking him at the final chicane. Seanagh grinned and started the next lap leading the race, much to the delight of Dave.

“Brilliant move, let’s try and pull a gap”

“You don’t need to tell me twice”

 

Will had to stop himself from crying by lap seven. His sister was leading the race, with Seb in a respectable fourth battling Verstappen. The garage had suddenly become alive with cheers or euphoria. He couldn’t imagine what it would be like if she actually _won_ the Grand Prix.

 

Seanagh had pitted at the end of lap 36, giving third place to Max. She knew her fourth place would soon become second once Seb and Daniel came in for their last stops. The fresh set of rubber was just what she needed to get past Max who was now a few seconds up the road. But Seanagh still had that little bit of positivity from the start of the race, and she was sure that if she could pass Dan then Max wasn’t going to be a problem either.

“This is the last lap, we need to make it happen now” Seanagh didn’t respond to the radio message as she was too in the zone to put a sentence together. With the help of DRS she had closed right up to the back of Verstappen, but not enough to make a pass. She tried round the outside of turn three but again she wasn’t close enough. Seanagh took the decision to wait until the final sector, it was going to be close but it was the only realistic chance she had of overtaking him.

She tried going down his inside at turn ten, breaking a little bit later in the hope she could push Max into making a mistake. He didn’t however and they ran side by side into turns ten and eleven. She slowed enough to make a switch back coming into turn thirteen before somehow taking the lead going into the final chicane. She sped out of turn sixteen and saw the chequered flag first. She slowed down to see Max pass her with a small wave. Over the radio she heard loud cheers in Italian before Dave took over.

“Congratulations Seanagh, you’ve just won your first race for Ferrari” Dave sounded as if he was going to cry, which made the young driver tear up herself. She let out a loud scream of pure joy into the radio before trying to compose herself.

“Oh my god… I love you guys so much. Thank you for this weekend, you’re all legends every single one of you. Fino alla fine, Forza Ferrari!!!”

 “Well done Seanagh, well done from everyone” Maurizio paused, he too sounded incredibly tearful. “That was a beautiful race and a perfect win piccolina. I think you have just became a legend yourself”

 

Seanagh slowly pulled her car into the pits and eased into parc ferme stopping in front of the number 1 sign. She switched off the car and waited a moment before undoing her straps and standing up on top of the car with her hands high in the air. She jumped down and the first people she saw were her family; her Mum, Dad, Brother, Uncle and cousins had all found their way to the front of the barriers. She dived into their arms and felt an array of hands pat her on the back, shoulders and helmet. She leaned back and flipped up her visor, taking a good look at her family.

“I love you all so much…” Seanagh started to try and hugged Will and her parents as tightly as she could before hugging both hers and Seb’s mechanics. She headed into scrutineering and had to wait in line, giving her time to take off her gloves, helmet and balaclava – revealing her teary face to the world. Out of nowhere Jolyon ran in, and picked Seanagh up in the biggest hug he had ever given her before eventually putting her down.

“Well done!” Jo’s eyes looked red, like the rest of his family he had been crying too. “Bloody brilliant you are” He hugged her one last time before being almost dragged away by his press officer. After finally being weighed she kissed the nearest TV camera and wiped away her tears before seeing her mechanics one last time before heading inside to the podium cool down room. Seanagh quietly walked in and placed her stuff down on the table before Sebastian leaped over and hugged her.

“Well done” Seb hugged her tightly and kissed her cheek. “You deserve this so much” Seanagh was still far too emotional to speak and just smiled brightly at her team mate who eventually let her go.

“Well done, nice move into that last corner” Max extended his hand and Seanagh shook it with a smile.

“Thanks, you did a really great job out there” Seanagh coughed to clear her throat before speaking and headed to look at the timing screen while she re-did her ponytail and looked at the results without really taking them in. She was riding on a cloud of emotions that she was unable to describe. Seb walked over and handed Seanagh her winner’s cap and placed a hand on her waist.

Seanagh hummed and looked at her name at the top of the screen. “I’m really proud of you, team mate” Seanagh smiled and headed back to the table to towel down her face and down a bottle of cool water to try and subside the lump in her throat. When she was about to ask what happened with the two Mercedes cars Richard walked into the room, Seanagh bounded over and hugged her press officer and the pair of them started to cry.

“Oh you little star” Richard wiped his eyes and looked down at his driver. “I’m so proud of you” Seanagh just stood and smiled not really knowing what to say. “Thank you”

“For what?” Richard patted the Ferrari logo on his chest and beamed. Seanagh nodded and patted Richard’s shoulder. “You’re welcome”

After a few minutes Seb and Max went out onto the podium to loud cheers, Seanagh took a deep breath before walking out. She walked right up to the metal fencing and waved to her family and mechanics, before glancing over at Richard who proudly stood on the constructor’s representative step.

As the first few bars of God Save the Queen rang out another wave of emotion hit her at what she had just achieved. She began to cry again and somehow managed a wide smile for the cameras, it had been so long since her first win and if anything she was relieved that she wouldn’t go down in F1 history as a one win wonder. Seanagh shared a look with Seb once the anthems had finished and wiped her eyes before placing her cap back on her head.

She proudly accepted her trophy and kissed it before going to the front of the podium and lofting it high in the air to the cheer of the team and the fans gathered beneath her feet. Max and Seb got equally loud cheers upon receiving their trophies and once everyone had gotten out of the way they both soaked Seanagh in sparkling wine. Seanagh squealed before picking up her bottle and decided to get back at the two drivers before taking a large swig from her bottle.

 Once the celebrations were over three of the grid girls came onto the podium with microphones and the driver’s caps, Seanagh put hers’ on and felt tears brim at her eyes again, the crowd and her surroundings suddenly looking very blurry. She wiped her eyes before the interviewer shook all of the driver’s hands and congratulated all of the drivers.

“I think it goes without saying, that the biggest of congratulations goes to Seanagh Palmer” He had to pause due to a monstrous cheer from the Ferrari mechanics. “You’re probably going to get asked this a lot but, how do you feel right now?” Seanagh exhaled before speaking, a wide grin etched onto her face.

“Well… this is the best day of my life! I feel like I’m on another planet right now. To win any race is special but for me to win this race for the best team in Formula 1… I’m honestly lost for words”

“All of your family are here today, they must be very proud”

“Yeah, they’ve been with me through everything throughout my life and my racing career. Last year I thought F1 and me were finished but… Ferrari gave me a second chance and I want to thank them for that and also for building a truly amazing car”

The interviewer turned to Max, which gave Seb the opportunity to hug his team mate again; to Seanagh’s surprise they were both in tears, they stood and looked at each other for a moment. Seb was looking at Seanagh with nothing but pride and wonder; his eyes seemed to look that little bit brighter, looking more stunningly blue than Seanagh had ever remembered. Seanagh wiped at her eyes and took in a deep breath and looked down to wave at her brother who seemed to be crying too. “Nothing is ever going to top this”

“Nothing?”

“Nothing”

“Sebastian, well done on another podium today. You used a different strategy from your team mate today which seemed to put you on the back foot despite enjoying a great battle with Daniel Ricciardo. How do you feel your race went?” The interviewer seemed to jump out of nowhere, catching both Ferrari drivers off guard.

“Well first of all I would like to congratulate my team mate on her win today, she did a great job and we can all be very proud of her for recovering so well after yesterday. And… as a sportsman and her teammate, you know it’s her day, so I feel like we should respect that and well done to her and to our team” As the interviewer said a final comment to the crowd, Seb placed his microphone down and tenderly kissed Seanagh’s temple before everyone picked up their trophies and headed downstairs to the post-race conference.

 

“Seanagh we’ll start with you, a very emotional first Ferrari win today, something that was very evident on the podium. Talk us through your emotions right now”

“Well to be honest I’m trying to not start crying again. This time last year I was reserve driver with McLaren and now I’m a race winner with Ferrari. I never ever imagined this happening to me, I’m just so happy for the win today; it means so much to win a race for Ferrari. But I would also like to congratulate Max on an amazing race today; he kept me honest for most of the race and it was great fun for me and wonderful that the fans could finally see a proper battle for the win”

The remainder of the opening questions were more of one driver praising the two others, something that was also reflected in the questions from the floor. But there was one (as there almost always was) that wasn’t quite so positive.

“Seb does it bother you that your team mate beat you today?”

“No” He shook his head and shrugged. “Seanagh was clearly the best driver today, why would that bother me? If anything I’m impressed that after a year out of racing she’s won a race so soon. But I think we all know how good she is, so no, it’d doesn’t bother me at all. And like I said on the podium it’s her day, so please don’t try and detract from that” Seb gently squeezed Seanagh’s hand under the table, which she replied with a small thank you and a smile.

 

“You holding up okay?” Seanagh, Seb and Max all left the press conference together and met their press officers on their way to the press pen. Max and his press officer strode away in order to get to the journalists first, leaving Seanagh, Seb, Richard and Britta to walk to the press pen together.

“Yeah, I’m good” Seb smiled and placed his arm round his team mate, Seanagh did the same and they walked into the press pen together heading straight to Channel 4.

“Since you two are friends I’ll let Seanagh go first” Seb smiled and walked over to another journalist. “I’ll come back later”

“Very kind of him” Seanagh remarked as Lee looked at her questions.

“Seanagh, first of all huge congratulations on your win today, a superb maiden win for Ferrari. You’ve added your name to a very long list of Ferrari winners, getting your own little piece of history in the process. You had a great battle with Max Verstappen in the latter part of the race, talk us through it” Lee was smiling with genuine pride just like she was when she had interviewed Seanagh in Hungary three years before.

“Thank you, I had a really great start which really helped me I think. And from then on the plan was for me to cover Max in terms of strategy, and for Seb to cover Dan and luckily for Max and myself we were on the two stop which really helped. But the last few laps with Max were so much fun for me, it felt like the first time I’d properly raced someone in years and it felt really great on that last lap to take the lead”

“There was also a lot of team mate love going on between you and Seb on the podium and in the press conference, you two seem to be really getting along this year” Seanagh laughed before answering the question. A cheeky grin was evident on Lee’s face, hoping to get a good answer out of Seanagh since she was clearly on such a high.

“Yeah… I mean we get on well, we don’t exactly love each other but Seb is a very nice guy. He’s very professional and I think the reason we both get on so well is we just want to help the team to beat Mercedes in any way we can. And when you’re trying to build up a car and improve it you need to be talking with your team mate a lot, so when you both get along it really helps the team in that sense”

“So there’s no chance of you both doing what Nico and Lewis did today?”

“No, no. Definitely not”

“Thanks Seanagh” Lee and Seanagh exchanged smiles before she was led over to Sky where Seb was just finishing his interview, they brushed shoulders and glanced at each other before paying full attention to their interviewers.

 

“And as if by TV magic, I am very proud to say that we have been graced by race winner, history maker and all round superstar, our very own Seanagh Palmer” Steve Jones paused and fully turned to look at Seanagh with a charming TV presenter smile. “Not only have you made the British public incredibly proud, but you gave us all one heck of a race out there today, first of all from everyone here at Channel 4 a huge congratulations. If you can, could you tell us how good does it feel to be a Ferrari race winner” Seanagh shook her head, it wouldn’t properly sink in for a few days just what she had done.

“I’m still a bit lost for words; I had great fun out there on track today. And I’m immensely proud that I can call myself a race winner for Ferrari”

“One thing I really enjoyed watching after the race, DC mentioned it too, was the incredible amount of sportsmanship between you, Max and Sebastian. It’s not something we’ve seen a lot of on the podiums this year”

“Yeah, it is quite nice to see, and for ourselves too because there’s no awkward tension. I think it’s mainly because there’s a lot of mutual respect between the three of us, plus we all chat with each other in the paddock and on the driver’s parade too”

“Now as I’m sure you’re very well aware, you are the first woman not only to race for Ferrari but to win a race for them as well, was that on your mind at all during the race?”

“Not really, as Susie pointed out before I’m pretty much making history every time I get in the car, so it never really crossed my mind. But I’m still incredibly happy with the result today” Seanagh just stood there beaming, leaving Steve to wrap up the show before they went off air.

“And that’s it, great job guys” DC and Steve both sighed with relief, while Susie handed her mic to Alain so she could go over and hug her friend.

“Congratulations, I’m so proud of you” Susie sounded incredibly tearful and was indeed wiping away a stray tear when she let Seanagh go. The two women smiled at each other before Seanagh thanked the whole Channel 4 team before Richard whisked her back to the garage for the post-race team photo. She was greeted by loud cheers from the whole team, all of which were smiling proudly as if they had won more than just a race. Seanagh then saw her family stood near Seanagh’s winner’s trophy, just the sight of them bursting with pride was enough to make Seanagh cry again.

“Well done darling” Seanagh’s Mum sobbed with pride as she hugged her daughter tightly.

“Unbelievable, our daughter has raced for two of the biggest teams in F1 and won races for them both”

“Oh Dad…” Seanagh hugged her Dad tightly too, before she caught a glimpse of her teary eyed brother.

“I’m so proud of you sis”

“Thanks Will, you’re the best all of you” Seanagh wiped tears away from her eyes again. “This more than makes up for last year” Her family all nodded and took their place behind the team’s trophies where Seb and Maurizio were both waiting. Maurizio clapped Seanagh’s shoulder and was smiling at her as if she were his own daughter.

“Well done, you have made everyone so proud” Seanagh just shook her head before placing her arms around her parents Seb looked over and the two drivers smiled at each other and they all cheered for the masses of photographers, before getting thoroughly drenched in champagne.


	9. Anything Can Happen

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nothing ever quite goes to plan all the time

_Tuesday 24 th May – Monte Carlo_

“How long have we got?” Vanessa asked looking around the floor for her shoes.

“Fifteen minutes before the car gets here” Britta replied while carefully putting on her earrings while Seanagh zipped up the back of her dress. The annual pre-race gala dinner was set to take place in just under an hour, but considering how bad the Monaco traffic was everyone had to leave at least 45 minutes before just to get there on time. “Thank you” Britta smiled up at Seanagh who fixed on her own pieces of jewellery – a matching necklace, earring and bracelet set made of silver and diamonds that she only wore on very special occasions as it was a gift from her parents.

Considering that would probably be the only night of the year the three women would have get to dressed up they spent ten minutes fussing over themselves in the mirror before taking a number of pictures together. Britta was wearing a plain long sleeved cream coloured dress with a rose gold coloured belt and small beige heels, her hair was out of its usual pony tail and thanks to Vanessa was in loose curls on her shoulders. Vanessa had pulled out a sleeveless periwinkle lace dress she had been waiting on a good enough occasion to wear for months, while Seanagh was wearing a floor length red gown that had been gifted to her by an Italian designer earlier on in the year.

“Shall we go then?” Vanessa asked, smoothing down the three quarter length hem of her dress, Britta and Seanagh both nodded and followed Vanessa out towards the lifts that went down to reception. Richard was waiting for them as promised as Seb and Maurizio had left a few minutes earlier. “Oooh look at _you_ Mr Wilson” Vanessa teased the press officer who was wearing his customary three piece Ferrari suit with a black tie.

“Don’t well all scrub up nicely, come on the car’s outside” The Gala was being held in one of Monte Carlo’s many casino-restaurants, which a very large group of photographers had congregated outside of to try and get a glimpse of the drivers, celebrities and Royals in attendance. “This shouldn’t take long” Richard muttered as he got out of the car first and found a good spot for Britta, Seanagh and Vanessa to stand in for a few seconds before diving inside away from the flashing lights. Maurizio, Seb, Antti and Stefi were all waiting for them in the foyer; the sight of his team mate was enough to make Seb grin like he’d already won the race.

 

Daniel fixed his tie whilst walking over to the Ferrari table; he cleared his throat and smiled down at Seanagh who looked up at him from his phone.

“Howdy” Seanagh shook her head and laughed whilst pulling out a chair. “I was actually gonna ask if you wanted a dance, I promise I won’t woo you into spilling Ferrari’s secrets” Daniel joked and held his hands up with a wide grin. Seanagh rolled her eyes and stood up.

“Fat chance of that happening” Dan chuckled and led Seanagh onto the dancefloor and cautiously held her in a waltz hold with a reasonable space between them.

“So how’s life being a Ferrari race winner then?”

“Not too shabby” Seanagh’s smile pretty much lit up her whole face. “How’s things going with you?” Daniel shrugged and glanced around the room

“Alright I guess, uh oh”

“What?” Seanagh raised an eyebrow.

“Your boss is burning a hole in my head” Sure enough when Seanagh looked over her shoulder Maurizio was looking at Daniel with a distinct scowl on his face.

“Oh that’s just his usual expression” Daniel hummed and the quiet music in the background stopped and everyone started to clear the floor, he led Seanagh back to her table where Seb and Britta were now sat at.

“Well good luck this weekend”

“You too Dan” Seanagh smiled as she sat down and Dan hurried towards the bar to stop Maurizio from glaring at him any longer.

 

It had taken all of five minutes after Daniel left for Seb to ask Seanagh to dance with her, she had her hand in the crook of his elbow as they walked over to a more busier spot where they couldn’t be noticed as easily. Because it was slightly crowed Seb held Seanagh close to him, but she was too distracted to notice or even mind.

“You look very nice” Seanagh blushed almost the same colour as her dress.

“Not too bad yourself” Seb was wearing the exact same suit as Richard, Antti and Maurizio and it was fitted to his frame perfectly. The pair slowly danced together for more than one song and just smiled at each other the whole time. After a while, neither of them really knew how long, Maurizio came over and stood right by them, clearing his throat loud enough to startle his two drivers enough into jumping apart from each other.

“It’s late” He frowned whilst looking at his watch. “You both have a lot of press tomorrow” Neither Seb or Seanagh objected and walked over to the rest of the group before jumping into waiting cars that took them straight back to the hotel.

 

_Sunday 29 th May – Monaco Grand Prix_

Seanagh watched as the rain began to fall outside the garage, she was due to take her car to the grid in about fifteen minutes but the usual calm garage was manic with talks of last minute wing changes and wet tyres for the start of the race. She looked around, noting that Seb _still_ wasn’t in the garage, for some reason she was worried – and had no idea why. After ten minutes in which Seanagh had discussed and agreed changed to the front wing for the race and elected to go to the grid on full wets, Seb finally arrived much to Seanagh’s relief.

“Hey, for a second I thought you weren’t going to turn up” Seb smirked and put his balaclava down and turned to face his team mate.

“You weren’t worried about me were you?” Seanagh opened her mouth and paused, while she had very much been worried about him admitting that would probably come across as unprofessional. Seb took the silence as some kind of answer and gently placed a hand on her shoulder. “Good luck, just come back in one piece”

“You too Seb” The two team mates smiled at each other before Seanagh walked back to her side of the garage to get ready for the race, but not after taking one small look over her shoulder towards Sebastian.

 

Seb awkwardly sat in his designated seat in the post-race debrief. Seanagh was already in her seat when Seb had arrived scribbling hastily in her debrief notebook. When Maurizio walked in he started rambling on in Italian, Seb just about understood what he was saying but Seanagh looked incredibly confused, probably only catching the odd word thanks to her fluency in French. _Latin derived languages are incredibly similar Sebastian,_ She had told him once on a rainy afternoon in Germany.

“Seanagh” Her head spiked up and her fast moving pen had suddenly stopped. “Could you tell us what happened with your race?” He saw her shoulders fall slightly as she took in a deep breath.

“I messed up. And I can only apologise to everyone here for ruining an opportunity to score some really good points today” Something that Sebastian had known in the back of his mind but never truly noticed until they were team mates, was how incredibly honest she was with just about everything.

_You’ll love working with her, she’s a great team player you know? And she doesn’t have this ego thing like so many of us have; there’s no mind games with her._ Seb had asked Jenson on advice on working with Seanagh during testing, and he did nothing but sing her praises.

“I don’t feel like I have enough experience of driving an F1 car in changeable conditions, which is why I out braked myself and crashed. That’s my fault and I’m sorry” _You have to watch her in the debriefs though, I’ve seen her verbally beat herself up way too many times._

“Easy mistake to make” The words left Seb’s mouth before he could stop them let alone notice them. Seanagh stared at him in shock. “I mean how many people crashed out today? It happens” Seb shrugged and looked over at Maurizio who seemed to be scowling at him.

“And yourself Sebastian?”

“I wasn’t good enough today to catch Perez” He shrugged and leaned forward against the table. “He was just too quick today; I can only hope that we’ll be faster in Canada” Seb shrugged and Maurizio looked at his own notes. Everyone discussed strategy and tyres and setups and just about everything else for a good hour or so before everyone was dismissed. “Seanagh hang on a second” The young Brit stopped after leaving the meeting and waited for Seb before resuming walking. “Can we have a chat, it won’t be long” She nodded and the pair ended up in her driver’s room.

“What’s the matter?” Sebastian scratched the back of his neck and looked up at the person who was both his team mate and his ex-girlfriend. The person who he knew so much about, but at the same time so little.

“Why did you beat yourself up like that? All you had to say was that you made a mistake, you didn’t have to…” He waved his hands in the air trying to find the right words in English. “…do some analysis of what you did wrong” Seanagh just sighed and looked at her red Puma branded flats.

“I just… need to be honest with them. I don’t want to lie”

“Yes but there’s a difference between admitting a mistake and throwing yourself under the bus” All of a sudden Seb seemed to have a flashback to a similar discussion they had after the German Grand Prix two years ago, when Seanagh had dramatically taken out Felipe Massa at the first corner. “I know you are honest because you want respect, but not having confidence in yourself doesn’t help either. God I wonder how you survive in this sport sometimes” Seb waited for Seanagh to say something, anything.

He knew how harsh F1 could be, in his years at Red Bull he’d just about seen it all (either towards himself or Mark), and yet in 2013 Seanagh came into F1, so completely honest and innocent yet with an incredibly thick skin. But despite that he wondered how often her bright and bubbly persona had faded to tears, because in the year they were together he hadn’t seen it happen once.

“I just take each day as it comes, you know me” But right now Seb felt like he didn’t know her at all, he had never quite seen Seanagh _this_ open before. “And I just have my own way of dealing with things, it doesn’t bother me” Seb sighed and closed his eyes briefly before opening them again, locking eyes with Seanagh.

“Okay just… please don’t be so hard on yourself. Please” Unknown to both drivers Seb was holding one of Seanagh’s hands tightly.

“I’ll try, but I can’t promise anything”


	10. Always Have an Excuse on Standby

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Seagulls??

_Sunday 12 th June – Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, Montreal_

“Hang on, Seanagh will believe me. Seanagh!” She turned round at Seb’s call and saw him standing with Lewis, gesturing her over. She had been hoping on a nice quiet walk through the paddock back to hospitality, clearly that wasn’t to be the case.

“What is it?” Seanagh huffed and walked towards her team mate and a bemused looking Lewis.

“You saw the seagulls right?” Seanagh looked at Seb with a raised eyebrow and tilted her head in confusion.

“ _Seagulls?_ ” She glanced briefly at Lewis, who just shrugged while wrapping the Union Jack he was holding around his hand almost like a boxing glove. “Well Seb, it’s taken you nine seasons, but I think you’ve finally lost the plot” Lewis just stood there and laughed.

“No I’m being serious! There were seagulls on the apex of turn one”

“When?”

“I don’t know, late on in the race when Lewis was catching me” Seanagh rolled her eyes and wondered just why Seb was so desperate to discuss this with her.

“I didn’t see any seagulls Seb; you must have scared them off”

“No but I didn’t! I was breaking into turn one and they just sat there! They didn’t even move so I had to go around them which lost me time…” Seb was explaining the event with his usual cheeky grin; he seemed to be in a rather cheeky mood.

“Well as nice as this chat is, I need to go and talk to Sky. I’ll catch up with you guys later” Lewis had clearly been amused enough by the conversation and went to leave.

“See you, congrats on the win by the way”

“Thanks” He wondered off to where the Sky guys were, leaving Seanagh with her possibly deluded team mate.

“Is this a joke or…”

“Well I need some excuse for why I didn’t win” Seb laughed expecting Seanagh to do so as well, instead she rolled her eyes again and left for the hospitality area. “Wait where are you going?”

“To get a cup of tea, if you want to discuss the fauna of the area then go and bother Sky… or anyone else for that matter” Seanagh left Seb and when she got her cup of tea she was surprised when Seb had actually done what she had told him. After a while they found camera footage that proved Seb wasn’t imagining the seagulls, Seanagh laughed at her team mate and Richard came over tapping his watch saying that she really had to go and do her interview with Channel 4. “Hey Lee!” The Scot looked up from her notepad and smiled before telling her cameraman to start recording.

“Chilly huh?” She gestured to Seanagh’s tea and she felt a little guilty. “Don’t worry this is my warm jacket” Lee smiled and waited for confirmation from her cameraman that he was recording.

“So sixth place, not really the best for you, but you had the pace to almost snatch fifth from Nico Rosberg who was just that little bit too far away, so maybe it wasn’t that bad of a day today”

“Yeah, the result was a lot better than Monaco that’s for sure. But I clearly didn’t have as much pace as Seb today, we think it might have been the setup we were running but we’re not 100% sure. But to have Seb on the podium is really good for us as a team and hopefully we will have a better showing next weekend” At some point Seb and Britta had arrived and were doing an interview just a couple of feet away.

“You mentioned the race next week. How tough is the new circuit going to be for yourself and everyone in the team?”

“Well along with the setup headaches the jetlag is going to be an absolute nightmare! I’m flying there tomorrow actually so I’m going to try and get a lot of sleep on the plane. But the poor guys have to take everything apart and then fly out to Baku so uh… there’s going to be quite a lot of these going around over the next few days” She held up her cup and took a sip.

“Are you looking forward to heading to a new city?”

“Absolutely! I’ve seen pictures and Baku looks like a really beautiful place, but in terms of the track there’s some segments that look like they could be a lot of fun to drive, especially the castle section, so I’m really looking forward to it”

“And we’re good” The cameraman sighed and briefly looked at Seb before adjusting some of the camera settings.

“Any more to do or just Seb?”

“Just Seb” Lee sighed and flicked through her notepad to find her questions for Sebastian. “I can’t wait to get back to my hotel” Britta smiled and nodded at Lee signalling that Seb’s interview had come to an end.

“I’d be careful with him, he seems to have suddenly become obsessed with a pair of seagulls” Lee laughed and Seb chimed in.

“Look there’s video footage! I wasn’t joking, there were actually there!”

“If I say that I believe you will you be nice to Lee?” Seb shrugged and gave a cheeky grin.

“I don’t know I need to think about that one” Seanagh rolled her eyes jokingly with a small huff and headed back towards hospitality.

“How on earth did you like him enough to go out with him?” Richard asked quietly.

“I honestly have no idea”

 

“I’m mad at you, I’m mad at you. You said you’re not a Ferrari fan. Everybody’s a Ferrari fan, even if they’re not, they’re a Ferrari fan. Even if you go to the Mercedes guys, even if they say that ‘Oh yeah Mercedes is the greatest brand in the world’, they are Ferrari fans” Seb teased Lee because he knew she was going to be asking him about the team’s strategy, and he’d answered enough questions about that already.

“I am a Ferrari fan; I was a Ferrari fan when I was little. I had two goldfish, Berger and Alesi”

“Call your Dad; let me ask your Dad”

“Right can we do one question seriously…”

“You’re going to tell on me aren’t you, to Seanagh she told me to be nice to you. I’ve heard she can be quite stern” Seb gave a cheeky grin trying to stretch out his distraction for as long as possible, sadly neither Britta or Lee were too amused.

“Oh no she’s lovely, but about your race…”

“I tell you what though, whether or not my team mate is lovely that’s beside the point. The two seagulls I avoided into turn one, some lap where Lewis caught up more than half a second in the first sector, they were definitely not called Alesi and Berger. They were maybe, I don’t know… Nico and Lewis, trying to commit suicide. But I was breaking for animals, Lewis didn’t. But yeah, I know that has nothing to do with your question but err… I’m still mad at you”

“I’m going to lose my job if you don’t give me one question…”

“No you won’t”

“I will, I will! You need to give me one question about the race please”

“You know, if they make you lose your job after this I will never answer a question to Channel 4 again”

 

Seanagh sighed as she read her text from Lee.

_You were right about the seagulls; he wouldn’t shut up about them!_

**_I’m so sorry about him. I hope he didn’t mess up your interview_ **

_Well the guys at Channel 4 think it could be quite funny so it might be alright_

**_Ah he’s here now. I’ll personally grill him for you_ **

_Oh don’t be so hard on him. I’m pretty sure he was just having a laugh_

**_Well he is being annoyingly smug. I’m not dealing with jetlag and a smug team mate at the same time!_ **

_Fair enough, see you at the airport tomorrow_

“Hey Seb!”

“Oh come on… Lee texted you already?” He chuckled and leaned against the wall grinning at his team mate. “You know me I was just having a joke… and you know they won’t fire her because we all like her too much” Seanagh crossed her arms and frowned. “Oh come on… lighten up. I promise to be on my best behaviour next time” It seemed that Seb was chancing his luck that afternoon, as he quickly leaned down and kissed Seanagh’s cheek, narrowly missing the corner of her mouth.

“Oi!”

“Gotta go I need to get changed” And he ran off up the stairs with a wink before Seanagh could hit him. Seanagh sighed and shook her head before running into Richard.

“You deserve a medal for putting up with him, honestly”


	11. Hard Work on a New City's Streets

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When the going gets tough...

_Tuesday 14 th June – Baku, Azerbaijan_

Seanagh and Sebastian trudged through arrivals joining the back of the thankfully small queue at passport control, both of them wearing their sunglasses. Neither of them had got as much sleep on the flight as they wanted and the jet lag had already hit them right in the face. Somehow Antti and Vanessa were annoyingly managing just fine.

“I really would love to ask whoever thought this race and Canada back to back was a good idea” Seb muttered as they headed to baggage reclaim. Seanagh didn’t say anything in response as she was just trying to not walk into anyone. “I think Maurizio booked us a taxi to the hotel” Seanagh hummed and looked at the screens that would direct her to the correct baggage carousel. “I think someone _really_ needs to get you a coffee” Seb sighed and looked around waiting for bags to start coming through. After twenty minutes they were walking through departures behind a taxi driver that had been holding a sign with their names on it, for some reason their physios were in a separate car.

The drive to the hotel from the airport was tedious with the extra traffic caused by the majority of the main roads being closed to make the circuit. It was so much of an inconvenience that the taxi driver had to drop them off a short walk from the hotel, the driver did give directions but both Ferrari drivers were so tired that they didn’t take notice of them.

“I’ll get them up on my phone” Seanagh had them up in seconds and within just under ten minutes they were in the hotel reception, slightly exhausted from the heat and carrying their bags.

“I’m here to check into my room” The pair simultaneously spoke and placed their passports on the reception desk and both awkwardly stared at each other before they both said that the other should go first. Thankfully the hotel was prepared for the rush of F1 personnel and another receptionist checked Seb into his room.

“There you are Miss Palmer. Breakfast will be opening in about twenty minutes; we hope you enjoy your stay. And best of luck for the Grand Prix” The young receptionist handed Seanagh her passport and room key with a smile and Seanagh and Seb both headed for the lifts.

“Looks like we got here first” Seanagh yawned mid-sentence, looking back at the queue that had formed behind them. Seb hummed and looked at his keycard.

“Looks like we’re neighbours too, our rooms are right next to each other”

“Of course they are” Seanagh chuckled when she walked out onto the fifth floor and lead Seb to their separate rooms.

 

_Friday 16 th June – Baku City Circuit_

After practice everyone at Ferrari was scratching their heads. In both sessions they only had one car in the top ten, with the other car scraping around in the midfield. Something that the drivers were being hassled by the press about.

“I wish I could tell you where our pace has gone, but I honestly can’t. There’s a small part that we know about but the rest is… we honestly have no idea” Seanagh sighed biting the corner of her lip. “So uh… we’re going to have some meetings. Seb and me are going to spend as much time as we can with our engineers and see what we can do” She ran into Seb as they walked out of the press pen after FP2, they patted each other on the shoulder and trudged back to the garage.

“You’re staying behind right?”

“Yeah, are you?”

“Yeah” Seb nodded and tried to smile in the face of adversity.

“We’ll find the time Seb, I know we can”

 

By around nine in the evening everyone in Ferrari was having dinner, either crammed round tables or standing in small groups holding their plates with one hand and holding their forks in the other. Seanagh and Seb had split their concentration between their food and a variety of notebooks and data sheets, with a lot of exasperated sighs in the process.

“I don’t understand where we’re going wrong” Seanagh scratched her head looking at all of her data sheets and comparing her notes from practice with her notes from the simulator. “The data looks almost identical but we’re seconds off the pace!” Seb shook his head and with a final forkful of pasta, pushed his plate away and stood up.

“Come on, we’re going for a walk”

“But…”

“If we staying here for as long as we are then we need a break and some fresh air” Seanagh sighed and nodded.

“You’re right” She stood up and followed Seb out into the paddock as they headed towards the pit lane. The air was cooler than what it had been before, but there was still the smell of sea salt mixed with petrol and the odd trace of worn tyres. In the pit lane Seanagh and Sebastian sat on the wall overlooking the pit straight and main grandstand. It was surprisingly quiet as most of the teams had gone back to their hotels; it seemed Ferrari were the only ones staying. “How much do you think I’d have to pay Bernie for us to have a clean weekend?” Seb laughed.

“And there’s me thinking you’ve always said you prefer to have it the hard way…”

“Hey, working for something and having it the hard way are two completely different things” A natural pause appeared in the conversation and they stayed quiet for a minute or so.

“How long are you going to stay behind for?” Seb asked biting down on his bottom lip.

“As long as it takes to sort out the car, you?” She directed her response with a small nod in Seb’s direction.

“As long as it takes” After another few minutes the two drivers headed back to the Ferrari hospitality unit, where it seemed everyone had also taken a break given all of the loud and boisterous chatter. “Come on, we’ll figure this out”

 

It had just gone quarter past midnight, and all the Ferrari guys were still at the circuit and a lot of them were strongly resisting the urge to rip out their hair.

“I still think we should go low downforce” Seanagh had been playing the low downforce card for the past forty five minutes, and no one seemed interested, so Seanagh knew she had to go with the hard hitting (yet convincing) approach. “The current set-up isn’t working so we’re not risking a lot if we do change it, beside the only technical part of the track is the middle sector. So what’s compromising a few corners compared to the benefit we’re going to get on the straights and high speed corners?” By this point she was strongly considering going to Maurizio and demanding for a low downforce set-up on her car. All of Seanagh’s mechanics shared a look before Maurizio called his drivers and their race engineers to his office.

“Well?” He sat down and looked up at his drivers with bags beginning to form under his eyes.

“We need a low downforce set-up!” Sebastian and Seanagh exclaimed at the same time, with Dave and Riccardo just looking at each other, Maurizio rubbed his brow and frowned.

“If I know my front wings then even McLaren have one, and we’ve seen Mercedes’ rear wing, it’s the same spec they used at Spa and Monza last year… If we want to beat these guys then we _have_ to be going for a low downforce set-up”

“I agree” Seanagh knew it was going to be hard for Maurizio to disagree with _both_ of his drivers, so he looked between Dave and Riccardo before standing up from his chair then.

“Okay, we go for low downforce, but _don’t_ make me regret this”

“You won’t” Seanagh spoke almost defiantly towards her boss, which actually caused him to smile a little. At that point Maurizio’s phone rang and he hurriedly shooed everyone out of his office.

 

“Buonasera Mr Marchionne” Maurizio huffed as he sat down in his chair, while he knew the phone call was coming her certainly didn’t want to be having it.

“I am not calling you to discuss the practice pace, I trust the whole team is working on it”

“They are” Maurizio sighed, beginning to wonder what the phone call was going to be about.

“I had a meeting with the board this morning; we have started to think about the drivers for next year”

“So soon?” Maurizio frowned; he had enough on his plate without having to evaluate potential drivers.

“Yes… everyone seems to like Miss Palmer apparently” Maurizio smirked; he knew that Sergio wasn’t keen on her being in the car and yet she seemed to be proving him and everyone else wrong at every single race.

“I’m not surprised, everyone here likes her, and Seb seems to be happy so… Personally I would have no complaints keeping her on” He heard Sergio reply with a very disgruntled mumble. “If you don’t mind I need to see how my team is getting on, ciao” Maurizio stood up and forcefully dropped his phone in his chair before walking out of his office and straight into hospitality. Seanagh and Sebastian seemed to have grouped both of their engineers together, and were excitedly discussing the technicalities of a low downforce set up.

There was something so similar about his drivers, they were both such team players, the fact that they were staying behind so late proved just that. And the fact that they both got on well had seemed to unite both sides of the garage, which could only be a benefit in the long run. Maurizio leaned against the wall and Stefania joined him, and they both watched their team with proud smiles on their faces.

 

It was twenty past one in the morning when all of the Ferrari guys left the paddock. They were all exhausted but were still smiling knowing just how much good work they had put in. They walked into the hotel as a sea of red with their drivers at the back, who opted to take the stairs to their floor.

“I’ve never stayed that long at a track before” Seanagh yawned as her and Seb put their arms round each other.

“Me neither. If all this isn’t worth it then there’s going to be a lot of people mad at you”

“Yeah… but you know I was right”

“Maybe you are… maybe I don’t want to tell you” Seanagh rolled her eyes and laughed.

“How do I put up with you…” Seb said nothing and lightly patted his team mate’s shoulder. “I’ll see you in a few hours then” Seanagh leaned against her door when they both got to their rooms.

“See you at breakfast”

 

_Saturday 17 th June – Post-Qualifying_

Seanagh and Seb grinned and briefly hugged once back in the garage after the end of Q3. They’d qualified fourth and fifth which was going to become third and fourth thanks to Perez’s five place grid penalty. It was a huge step up from where they had been in practice so everyone, especially Maurizio, was pleased.

“Good job both of you, and thank you for yesterday”

“It’s okay, just trying to help the team” Maurizio gave a small smile before sending his drivers away to deal with the press.

 

“I’m really happy with our result today, when you compare the timesheets from yesterday and today we’ve found so much time. Which I’m really pleased about because it was looking pretty dire yesterday so I’m glad we found our pace”

“There’s been a lot of speculation over the past few days about your contract for next year; do you have anything to say about that?”

“Nothing much to say as of yet, but I’m very hopeful that my results are showing the team how good I am and that I really want to keep my seat for next year”

“And what are your prospects for the race tomorrow?”

“Well… there’s a Mercedes behind us so we need to be weary of that. And hopefully we’re faster than Red Bull now so… maybe we could have a double podium on the cards, who knows”

 

_Sunday 18 th June – European Grand Prix_

Not long after her first pit stop, Seanagh found herself on the back of Daniel Ricciardo chasing him down after turn sixteen. Taking turn nineteen flat out helped her get on the back of him, and eventually she got the position when he turned into the pit lane.

“Good job, good job. Just keep focused. It looks like we are under investigation for crossing white line at the pits. Don’t worry; we think it’s going to be okay. But for the moment can you let Seb past please just in case it’s a penalty” Seanagh followed Dave’s instructions and let Seb by on the straight between turns two and three.

“Okay, but just tell him to push alright?” Seanagh watched as Seb eventually pulled away, and Seanagh was thankfully to be found in the clear. “What did I do to be under investigation Dave?”

“You only had one tyre over, so just be careful for the rest of the race. We might still get a podium here”

By lap thirty she had made her second stop for another set of super soft tyres and had dropped down to fifth.

“Twenty one laps left Seanagh, you know what to do” After five laps she had caught up to the back of Lewis when he was going slow out of the exit of turn sixteen.

 

“Guys where on earth are the blue flags?!” Luckily she eventually got past the Manor when he went completely off at turn one. With a few reassurances from Dave she put everything into closing the gap to Perez who was in third. After a little while her steering wheel dash read lap 47, and she saw a silver and black car in front of her. “Please tell me that’s Perez Dave”

“Go get him” Seanagh just grinned inside her helmet.

 

Seanagh and Sebastian briefly hugged in parc ferme before going to see their mechanics, afterwards Seanagh dived into scrutineering and bumped into Checo.

“Good race” They shook hands and Sergio quickly walked away with a small thank you. After being weighed Seanagh jogged upstairs to the podium cool down room, where Sebastian and Nico were happily chatting away in German.

“Hey” She spoke once she heard a gap in their conversation; Nico didn’t need to know that Seanagh was part-fluent in German. It would raise too many questions. She walked over to her team mate and gave him a friendly hug which he seemed mildly surprised at. “We did it!” Seb smiled at her again and clapped her on the shoulder while Nico grinned and shook Seanagh’s hand.

“Great job, nice to see you up here”

“Thanks, how was the race for you then. Pretty boring I’d imagine” She saw Seb trying his best to not choke on his water from laughter while Nico just chuckled and pulled his phone out of nowhere.

“Let’s take a selfie guys, for the fans” Seb grinned and placed his arms round the shoulders of both his compatriot and his team mate and let Nico take a picture before they all headed out to the podium. Everyone grimaced when Eddie came out to do the interviews and during Nico’s interview it appeared that Seb got bored and joined Seanagh by her side.

“Ladies and gentlemen, both drivers from Scuderia Ferrari” Eddie was forced to pause from the deafening cheer from the Ferrari mechanics. “Now Seb tell me, second place in Canada, and a Ferrari double podium here. Is this a complete Ferrari revival?” Seb glanced at Seanagh before speaking.

“Well first, thank you very much; today has been a great job for us. We were struggling a bit on Friday but to see us now I think is a great recovery, two times on the podium now in a row scoring some good points although this weekend was different to last week but I think the pace is there, the car is good it’s coming along. So all in all a great day and thanks to the team”

“Well it’s delightful to see you on the podium, as is for your team mate. I haven’t seen you Seanagh since last year so first of all, congratulations on the Ferrari seat. It is so wonderful for us to have another top British driver at the front of the grid”

“Thanks Eddie, that’s very kind of you” Seanagh grinned as Seb patted her shoulder.

“Now I spoke about a Ferrari revival, but you have been incredible for someone who’s had a year out of Formula 1. You’ve had a win and this is your third other podium finish this season. How has it been for you?”

“It’s been incredible! This season has easily been my best to date, with the exception of any DNFs I’ve always finished in the top ten which is in part down to Ferrari for building such a wonderful car for both Seb and me. But being able to call myself a Ferrari driver is just the best thing, I never ever expected this to happen to me. But before I say anything else, I just want to say happy Father’s Day to my Dad, and send my family my sincerest apologies because I’ve actually missed my brother graduating from University today which I am devastated about, I doubt this makes up for it but this podium for my family today too”

“I’m sure they’ll have forgiven you seeing you’re up here. Now I want us to look forward for a minute. In two weeks we are in Austria, but the week after that we will be at your home race at Silverstone” Seanagh’s face cracked into a grin as a lot of the fans cheered. “What do you think of your chances for the British Grand Prix?”

“Oh gosh…” Seanagh paused and scratched her eyebrow. “Obviously I have a wonderful car which does help my chances to have a good result, which I would love so much because that race means so much to me being a Northamptonshire lass. But I think I’m going to see how Austria goes before I put all of my focus onto Silverstone” After Nico’s last question Seanagh waited for Seb so they could walk off the podium together and head down towards the post-race press conference where they were grilled by the world’s press.

“A question for Seanagh and Sebastian, you both looked pretty happy on the podium. You two seem to be a partnership that works incredibly well. What do you two think of the other with regards to how they fit into the team?”

“Haven’t we been asked this before?” Seb looked to Seanagh who shrugged.

“Probably, at a different race”

“Well, if that’s the case I’ll keep this short. Seanagh is a wonderful addition to Ferrari, she works very hard, she’s a very good driver. And her personality as well… you know there’s no mind games or nonsense with her which considering the position Ferrari is in it’s something that we really need”

“Seanagh, how do you think Seb fits into Ferrari?”

“Well to start off with he’s German so that’s a great help” A few journalists laughed which caused Seb to blush. “But Seb is a very good team leader; he’s very good at directing the team and keeping everyone calm during a tough situation, like Friday for example. And there’s no nonsense with him too which allows us to get on well which in turn helps us both develop the car to the best of our ability”

“I feel like whenever we’re in a press conference all we do is complement each other” Seanagh laughed and nodded.

“That is so true I hadn’t noticed, yeah… is that all you guys want to hear? Us being nice to each other?” Some journalists smirked while others were hastily taking notes.

“No but it’s nice though, seeing you two get along” Nico chimed in.

“Well I mean; it makes a nice change I suppose” Seb wore his best cheeky grin while Seanagh stared at him wide eyed for his comment, a very obvious dig at Nico and Lewis’ relationship.

“I think your British sense of humour is rubbing off on him too much” Nico tapped Seanagh’s arm with the back of his hand and pointed at Seb.

“He’s always been like that, you get used to it eventually”

“Any more questions please?” James Allan thankfully jumped in before Seb had a grin that would easily rival Daniel Ricciardo’s.


	12. Stand By Your Team Mate

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Don't let the Helmut Marko's and burst tyres of the world get you down

_Thursday 30 th June – Red Bull Ring, Spielberg_

When Seanagh walked into the paddock on Thursday morning there seemed to be some kind of extra buzz around her. Everyone seemed to be taking a few glances at her before pulling a face to someone that they were having a conversation with before they carried on whispering. It was almost as if she was the subject of the paddock’s gossip for the day.

However when Seanagh walked into the Ferrari motorhome with Vanessa everyone greeted her as they usually did, with a warm smile, a firm handshake and a clap on the shoulder. But the looks she had gotten in the paddock didn’t quite sit well with the young Brit, so she made a mental note to find Maurizio when he suddenly found her first.

“Good morning Seanagh, can I have a word with you in my office?” He looked as if he had been frowning, almost in a sad way.

“Of course” Vanessa took Seanagh’s things as Maurizio led his driver to his office. “Is everything okay? Everyone in the paddock looked at me like I’d grown an extra limb” Maurizio didn’t look surprised at Seanagh’s tone and rubbed his face, carefully planning out his words.

“There has been some negative remarks about you in the press” Maurizio spoke with the upmost sincerity.

“It happens almost every day, I’m used to it” Seanagh rolled her eyes and shrugged, she had been racing long enough to develop a very thick skin.

“No but these were… very negative. And I know the press will ask you about this, and I felt it was only fair to you that you knew the whole story. Please sit down” He paused and tapped his fingers against his desk, and gave her a look which made her sit in the chair opposite her boss. “The remarks were from Helmut Marko, he was asked if he was worried about you beating Red Bull’s drivers in the championship and… he said he wasn’t because you were only doing so well because you are in a fast car”

“He said _what_?!” Seanagh clenched her jaw, she could feel her blood pressure start to spike through the roof.

“And…”

“There’s more. Are you kidding me?” Seanagh had to stand up to stop herself from hitting the table.

“That he was going to be surprised if you could handle next year’s car, because…” Maurizio paused; he couldn’t bring himself to say the words to his driver.

“Because I’m a woman…” Seanagh brought her hands to her face and could feel tears brimming in her eyes.

“Now listen to me” Maurizio stood up and placed his hands firmly on her shoulders. “We all know you are a good driver. Everyone in the team respects you; we will make a couple of statements and you will speak to the press and then you will focus on the race and show all the idiots what you are made of” Seanagh smiled and wiped away any tears that threatened to fall down her face as Richard tentatively came into the office.

“The press are like hounds out there, you okay Seanagh?” She nodded before Seb came charging in past Richard flying his hands in the air.

“Who does he think he is?! Seanagh is one of the best drivers on the grid; just what is it going to take for them to believe that” He looked fuming, and was tempted to go over to Red Bull tell Marko exactly what he thought about his comments.

“What’s important is that the fans and everyone here respects me. Everyone else can just eat my brake dust” Seanagh’s slightly forced yet confident smile caused Seb’s shoulders to fall with relief and he crossed the floor to hug his team mate.

“Nobody here believes what he said, and so many drivers respect you. He can-”

“That’s enough Seb” Seanagh stopped him from saying anything vulgar. “Well I guess you want me to face the hounds now? Come on Rich” Seanagh looked at Richard who gave a small nod. She sighed and fixed her of sunglasses over her eyes and waited for Richard to exchange a few words with Maurizio before they went down the stairs. “Don’t worry I’ll be nice”

“You shouldn’t have to be…”

“Yes but I’m not going to stoop to anyone’s level” Seanagh gave her press officer a smile before leaving the safety of the Ferrari motorhome and into the jaws of the awaiting press. They actually looked like a field of piranhas, shouting above each other and thrusting microphones and audio recorders failingly with the odd camera flash thrown in for good measure.

“Seanagh! Holly Samos, Channel 4!” She looked at Holly and stood close to her meaning that she had the first interview, which thankfully caused the crowd to quiet down.

“It’s nice to see you here, how are you?” Seanagh gave Holly her best smile, showing the world that nothing had gotten to her. A strong front as Richard called it.

“I’m very well thank you. Now, I’m sure you’ll be aware of some comments made about you by Helmut Marko. I’m really sorry to have to ask you this but what do you have to say about them?”

“Well… I’m very disappointed in Helmut first of all. I expected so much better from him as someone who runs a young driver programme. I think what he said about me is disrespectful in every sense of the word. To think that sexism still exists is just awful; it’s a very serious issue in the sport that sadly goes very much unnoticed…” Seanagh paused and composed herself before continuing.

“I’m a racing driver, and in my mind my gender will never change that. And all I ask, from my team, the fans and press and of course my fellow drivers, is that I get respect. I’m doing the same job as them, and I feel like I should get the same respect as everyone else on the grid. And I think it’s a great shame that the views of the minority are getting in the way of that”

“And how are you going to approach this weekend?”

“No differently than normal, I am going to do everything I can to have a good result for myself and for the team as always” With a bright smile and a nod from Richard, who was perfectly happy with just the one small interview,  Seanagh went back inside the Ferrari motorhome. She passed Seb and Britta on the way who both seemed to charge straight for the pack of journalists.

 

“Seb! Your former colleague Helmut Marko had said some interesting things about your team mate to the press. Do you have anything to say about it?”

“ _Interesting_?” Seb scoffed, more like insulting. “I think what has been said towards my team mate is the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard. Seanagh is in this team because she is a great driver to deserve the seat she has, and she has the full support of myself and everyone else here. I’ve always respected her for what she does and it’s a shame that some people don’t, and to be honest everyone should. She’s very quick; I think the whole world knows that. And anyone who doesn’t say so is clearly in denial or they’re ignorantly choosing not to see it”

 

Maurizio had really hoped that he wouldn’t get asked about Marko’s comments, mainly because he was scared he’d end up swearing and that would make the situation so much worse. Thankfully Stefania had been walking with Maurizio through the paddock when one of the Sky journalists had cornered him.

“There’s been some pretty divisive things said about one of your drivers today, any comment on them at all?”

“Ever since last year when she was signed to Ferrari, Seanagh has had the support of everyone here. From myself, the whole team and especially the president Mr Marchionne. She is a wonderful driver… you know she won the Spanish Grand Prix, she beat Verstappen” Maurizio paused and briefly looked at his wife. “We are seeing more women in Formula 1 each year and I can’t see the problem of having a woman racing driver. Ever since Seanagh joined Ferrari she has been so good for this team, and what we need to do now is forget about one person’s stupid remarks and focus on the race this weekend”

 

_Friday 1 st July_

Jolyon cautiously waited outside the large (and slightly intimidating) Ferrari motorhome waiting on his cousin so they could walk together to the drivers briefing. After what had been going on in the press over the past two days Jo just wanted to be by her side, not because he felt she needed protection but because she was family; and family always stick together, theirs especially. He smiled at her once she emerged from the great red building and they briefly hugged before walking towards the steward’s office where the briefings always took place.

 “How everything at Renault?” Seanagh looked up at Jo with a small smile.

“Alright, could be better. How’s the Scuderia?” Jolyon shrugged and looked over his shoulder at the building that always had such a grand presence in the paddock.

“Good, I spoke to Marchionne on the phone yesterday. He says I have the full support of him and the board”

“Does that mean you’ll get your contract extended?”

“I hope so” Seanagh sighed and scratched the back of her neck. “Look Jo, I’m not a b-”

“I swear if you ever ask me if you’re a bad driver I’ll throw you into the River Thames when we get home. You won a race in a 2013 McLaren, and you beat Verstappen at Spain. So don’t you ever tell me you’re a bad racing driver” Sometimes Jolyon and Seanagh were deliberately firm on each other when they needed it. “He’s just intimidated because you’ve been beating his drivers, his ridiculous ego can’t take it”

When he had read what Marko had said he was very close to going over to Red Bull and hitting him, luckily Mia had convinced him that it was a very bad idea. So instead himself and many others had defended Seanagh to the press, while Seanagh had let her lap times do the talking. Fourth in first practice and fifth in a very rain affected second practice.

As they neared the steward’s office the pair were caught by a few paparazzi that were hanging around to get pictures of all the drivers. As expected they had taken a great deal of interest in Jolyon’s cousin, firing questions at her asking if she had been affected by Marko’s comments. Thankfully she said nothing as they entered the building.

Jolyon could hear Seanagh take in a deep breath just as they walked into the large meeting room. Of those who were there, some either briefly looked up to see who had walked in, or looked at Seanagh with a smirk before snickering to whoever they were talking to. Jo placed a hand on his cousin’s shoulder and led her over to where Mia was sat near the back.

“There you are” Mia smiled and moved her stretched out legs from the two seats she had been keeping and put her feet on the floor, she waited before Seanagh was sat down before wrapping an arm round her shoulders. “You okay?”

“I will be when I get in the car tomorrow” Seanagh huffed as Marcus awkwardly tapped her on the shoulder.

“I’m sorry about what Marko said about you” He gave Seanagh a very apologetic smile and briefly looked as the rest of the drivers walked in.

“Nothing you have to apologise for Marcus” Seanagh smiled at the Swede who frowned.

“Well I doubt the majority of everyone here agrees with him anyway”

“Thanks” Jo turned to his friend and the pair nodded before Charlie tapped his microphone and cleared his throat which silenced the room and allowed the briefing to get underway.

After the meeting ended some left quicker than others, but the majority of drivers were milling about having casual conversations. Felipe was one of the few who came up to Seanagh to see if she was alright.

“I’m fine mate honestly; it bothers me that he said it but whatever. One or two sentences doesn’t stop me from being a racing driver. If anything it’s pushing me to do better” Felipe grinned at her optimism.

“Is everyone at Ferrari looking out for you?”

“Yeah, yeah they are” Seanagh grinned, it was so heart-warming to see the team all backing her in the way they did.

“I knew they would, they are some very good people there you know” Felipe paused, as he needed to walk in an opposite direction to get to the Williams motorhome. “Good luck this weekend, try and best at least one of the Bull’s for me”

“I will!” As Seanagh began to stroll back through the paddock alone as Jolyon and Mia had to run off for last minute press duties and Seb was busy talking to Pascal. After a few steps Daniel came out of nowhere and walked alongside her.

“Hey, um… I just want to apologise. What Marko said was not on, I certainly don’t agree with him and I know there’s hopefully not that many that do but…”

“You don’t have to apologise for someone else’s shitty comments Dan”

“Look if you want him to… I don’t know… suddenly become unwell then I’m sure I can slip something into Marko’s coffee” Seanagh laughed and clapped Dan on the shoulder.

“I’d rather beat you both on track than resort to sabotage, but I appreciate the gesture”

“Good luck though, and you can totally beat Max if you want”

“But not you right?” Seanagh joked as Dan veered towards the Red Bull energy station with a wide grin on his face. “See you on the podium then!”

“I look forward to it” Dan winked before heading inside.

 

_Sunday 3 rd July – Austrian Grand Prix_

Seanagh stood in the podium cool down room looking at the timing screens with the odd feeling that some kind of poetic justice had been done. She had finished in third and had beaten at least one of the Red Bull’s and almost overtook the other on the last lap. Max and Lewis had already congratulated her on finishing on the podium and Seanagh had done the same. It was all very respectful.

“So uh…” Seanagh and Max both spoke at the same time, and they both urged the other to speak. “What happened?” Seanagh asked cautiously.

“What you mean on the last lap” Thankfully some on-track drama had distracted everyone from Marko’s comments and the heat was back on to the two Mercedes drivers.

“Yeah” Lewis shrugged and towelled down his face.

“Well, he made a mistake going into turn one. And I slipstreamed on the outside, and I was ahead on the breaking and started to turn, and I guess he crashed into me” Seanagh and Max pulled a face and took in a sharp intake of breath.

“I doubt Toto’s very pleased” Lewis just hummed and drank his water shrugging off the comment.

“Anyway, good job on today” Lewis shook Seanagh’s hand and clapped her on the shoulder before they headed out onto the podium.

 

The boos for Lewis made the podium feel a little awkward, so Max and Seanagh politely chatted away while they waited to be interviewed.

“Congratulations Seanagh, you’re starting to become a frequent visitor to the podium now. Are you pleased to be up here again?”

“I guess so, if anything I’m a bit annoyed that the race wasn’t a lap or two longer, because I was catching up to Max and the Mercs so I might have gotten more points today. But I’m very happy, as a team we’ve improved a lot since Friday. But unfortunately we lost a car during the race. Seb of course had a massive tyre failure so it does dampen everything a little bit. Especially since it’s his birthday today, so hopefully with a bit of luck we can both have a good result at Silverstone”

Seanagh gave one final wave to the crowd as the interviews were wrapped up and the three drivers left the podium, while Max and Lewis talked and laughed Seanagh couldn’t help but feel sad that her team mate wasn’t there with her.

 

The music in the bar was almost on the wrong side of loud, Richard and Britta, with a little bit of help from Ferrari, had booked out the entire venue before the race as means for the team to celebrate Sebastian’s 29th birthday. Sadly it seemed more people were celebrating Seanagh’s podium as Seb had been on the outdoor terrace since he arrived and hadn’t been inside once. Everyone else inside seemed to be enjoying themselves. All talking and laughing and looking slightly relieved that they had something to celebrate.

Seanagh shared yet another dance with Richard, whose shirt seemed to lose a button with every pint he drank, thankfully Vanessa had pulled him into the booth they were sitting in and managed to get him to drink some water to try and sober him up. No matter how hard Richard tried he was always going to be a bit of a lightweight. With some reassurance from Vanessa that she was going to look after the drunken press officer Seanagh crossed the room and found Britta and Antti talking by the bar.

“Hey” Britta and Antti both smiled and greeted Seanagh with a hug.

“Can we get you a drink?” Antti asked as he finished his second beer.

“No, I’m fine” She’d already had two small glasses of wine and a cocktail that left a very bitter taste in her mouth. “Is Seb still here?” Seanagh had hoped he hadn’t left yet, she hadn’t even wished him a happy birthday yet.

“Still outside” Britta pointed to the glass double door that led to the terrace where Seb was standing alone. “Try and bring him inside. He might listen to you” She had seen Britta go and try to bring Sebastian indoors but with every try she returned alone and it seemed she had given up about half an hour ago.

Seanagh nodded and squeezed herself through mechanics, engineers and past a slightly tipsy Maurizio and quietly stepped out onto the terrace and swiftly closed the door behind her. Seb was stood leaning against a metal railing, the one beer he had was long since drank and the glass had been discarded on a nearby table. Seanagh sighed and slowly walked over towards him, she placed a hand on his shoulder getting no reaction at all.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen someone look so glum on their birthday” Seb scoffed, his eyes moving from his shoes to the beer garden in front of him.

“Maybe it’s because I’ve realised I’m turning thirty next year” He replied dryly. Seanagh rolled her eyes and dropped her hand from Seb’s shoulder.

“I’m so sorry about that stupid tyre” Seb looked down at his feet again and scratched his nose. Realising that even her sympathy wouldn’t cheer Sebastian up she took a small step forwards and gave him a small kiss on the cheek. Seb’s cheeks went bright red.

“Come inside with me Seb” He said nothing. “I’ll let you dance with me” A small grin appeared on Seb’s face and he turned and looked at his team mate. Seanagh held out her hand while looking at Seb and was determined to not take no for an answer.

Sebastian eventually took Seanagh’s hand and she kept a hold of it until they were in the middle of the dance floor, slow music played in the background as they started to dance. As Seb glanced around the packed bar he looked surprised, no one seemed to take much notice of the two team mates dancing together. “Happy birthday Seb” He looked down at Seanagh who was smiling at him. Seb returned the smile and the pair danced together for the rest of the evening.


	13. Don't Tell Anyone (But...)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some secrets can be hard to keep... others not so much

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Decided to split the British GP chapter into two parts, second part will be up tomorrow.  
> And again a huge thank you to everyone who had been reading and leaving kudos, you have no idea just how much I appreciate it <3

_Tuesday 5 th July – London_

No matter what time it was Seanagh could always find a quiet spot in London for her morning run. She had just done some breakfast radio and TV appearances to help promote the upcoming British Grand Prix and had decided to go for a long run to clear her head. She knew that on Sunday she’d be in front of her home crowd in her Ferrari driving her guts out to make them proud, it felt like so much more pressure than her two home races with McLaren had ever been. Seanagh slowed to a stop when her phone began to ring in the pocket of her running jacket. When she looked at the screen and saw Britta’s name she raised an eyebrow and walked over to a nearby tree and answered her phone.

“Hey Britta” Seanagh turned and leaned her back against the tree for a quick rest. “What’s the matter?” She heard Britta sigh and mutter something to whoever she was with before replying.

“Small problem, we’ve flown in a day early”

“ _We?_ ”

“Sebastian, Antti and myself. Whoever booked our flight got the date wrong” Britta huffed. “You wouldn’t happen to know of any hotels in London we could stay at?”

“Are you kidding? Hotel prices are ridiculous at this time of year” Seanagh shook her head, the city was busy enough with Wimbledon going on. “Plus I doubt you’d be able to find somewhere…” Seanagh trailed off, only having one feasible option. “You guys can stay with me”

“Are you sure?” Britta sighed, it clearly didn’t sight well with her, but after a few seconds she agreed. “I assume Sebastian has your address?” Britta whispered, probably not wanting him to hear.

“Yeah, but if not I’ll send you it anyway. Oh and try and avoid the tube on your way over it’ll be hellish today”

“Okay, see you later” With a quick goodbye the call ended and Seanagh took a few seconds to breathe before beginning the half hour jog back to her flat that now had to be made presentable for guests.

 

Britta shook her head with a small sigh as she put her phone back in her pocked and walked back towards Antti and Sebastian.

“It’s all sorted” Seb sighed with relief. “Seanagh said we could stay at hers” Seb’s eyes widened in a slight panic and he quickly glanced over at his trainer. “I’ve got her address so we can get a taxi, come on” Britta led her colleagues out of the terminal and towards the long queue at the taxi rank where they waited just over twenty minutes before they were safely in a car driving towards Seanagh’s flat.

 

“Are they here yet?” Steven, one of Seanagh’s landlords, popped his head out of his flat and looked around the lobby where Seanagh was standing by herself. When Seanagh had come by to tell them she was having guests over Steven had quickly gotten changed into a pair of dark jeans and a pale coloured shirt.

“No the traffic’s pretty bad apparently” She looked at her phone to check the time again.

“It’s the M25 the traffic is always bad” Anthony, Seanagh’s other landlord and Steven’s husband, came into the lobby looking at his watch. Seanagh hummed, she had spoken to Britta over an hour ago and was rueing telling her to avoid the underground, even if someone had recognised Seb at least they would have gotten to Seanagh’s place faster. “Oh this looks like them” Anthony looked out of one of the windows beside the main door; Seanagh looked through the other window and saw Seb, Britta and Antti emerging from a black cab. “I’ll get the door” Anthony held the door wide open and Seanagh skipped down the steps towards her colleagues where they were all putting money together for their taxi fare.

“No need” Seanagh pulled some cash out of her pocket and gave to the driver, and insisted that he kept the change. As the taxi sped off Seb whispered Seanagh a small thank you as Steven helped lug some of the bags and suitcases up the steps and into the lobby.

“It’s nice to see you again Sebastian” Anthony remarked as he closed the door, Seanagh looked at her landlord and shook her head and subtly tried to point at Antti as he didn’t know about Seanagh and Seb’s previous relationship, and they both intended to keep it that way.

“Get the bags will you?” Steven gave a warning look to his husband as he had one foot in the lift to keep it open. “If you need anything just give us a ring” Steven smiled at Seanagh as the lift doors closed taking the small group up to the sixth floor. They somehow managed to haul all of the bags out the lift and along the corridor into Seanagh’s flat where they were all put in a heap in the living room.

“I’ll get the kettle on before we deal with that” Seanagh gestured to the bag pile before diving into the kitchen.

 

Seb wasn’t surprised at how little Seanagh’s flat had changed since he had last been there, the walls were white with a golden coloured wooden floor, and the black leather sofa suite was still sat on a large cream rug in front of the TV. The only difference was the few pictures of the two of them that were scattered around the flat were no longer there, in place of then were pictures of Seanagh with her family and Mia.

“Wow” Antti looked around Seanagh’s flat with wonder. “She never said her place was _this_ nice”. Out of the windows was a stunning view of the city, it had taken so long for Sebastian to learn to love it and now he was seeing it again he oddly missed it. Seb hummed and hung up his jacket on one of the coat hooks and awkwardly sat down on one of the armchairs, after two years it was still the comfiest thing he had ever sat on. “And what did her landlord mean by seeing you _again_?”

“Uh…” Seb shared a nervous look with Britta before Seanagh thankfully poked her head out of the kitchen door.

“Tea or coffee guys?” Everyone asked for coffee and Antti jumped up to help as an excuse to see if Seanagh’s kitchen was as nice as the living room.

“It’s just for tonight Seb”

“I’m more bothered about Antti finding out about… you know” Brita smiled and sympathetically patted Seb’s hand before taking a seat on the sofa as Antti and Seanagh brought in four steaming mugs. Seb gladly took his and cautiously looked around his surroundings while Antti quizzed Seanagh on everything there was to know about her flat.

 

Seanagh quietly knocked on the door of the spare bedroom, and waited before Seb said she could come in before taking a step into the room. Antti was making himself comfortable on the air mattress at the foot of the spare bed that Seb was just climbing into.

“You boys okay?” The two men nodded. “Well if you want anything from the kitchen just help yourselves, and just knock on my door if you need anything. Night guys” Antti and Seb both said goodnight and Seanagh closed the spare room door and headed into her own room. “You alright Britta?” She had insisted on taking the second air mattress, both drivers had been arguing with their temporary roommates about who should sleep on the floor.

“Yes I’ll be fine; I slept on some airport chairs once so this will be just fine. But thank you for letting us stay here”

“You’re more than welcome Britta” Seanagh climbed into bed and picked up the book she had just started reading the night before from her bedside table. She quietly read her book while Britta did some work on her laptop, after a while the sound of tapping keys slowed to a very quiet stop.

“Can I ask you something?”

“Sure” Seanagh dog-eared the page and placed her book down. Britta got up off the air mattress and sat cross legged on Seanagh’s bad facing her looking rather concerned. “What’s up?”

“Are you okay?”

“Yes…” Seanagh raised an eyebrow, nothing had happened that day that had upset her in any way. That she knew of anyway.

“I mean… are you okay working with Seb”

“Yeah” Seanagh replied quickly and with a nervous smile. “I mean it’s not ideal… but come on what else was I going to do? You don’t get a second chance in this sport, let alone from Ferrari” Britta nodded and leaned forward.

“I know, I’m just worried about you two” Seanagh wanted to ask why Britta was worried but she had a feeling she already knew why.

“Yeah I’m worried too” Seanagh sighed and tapped her fingers against the duvet. Britta placed a reassuring hand on her arm and looked at the bedside clock that read a few minutes past ten.

“Get some rest; you’re going to a Dare to be Different event tomorrow aren’t you?”

“Yeah” Only Susie knew Seanagh was coming with Mia, it was meant to be a surprise for all the girls who turned up to the event. “Goodnight Britta”

“See you tomorrow”

 

_Wednesday 6 th July – London_

Mia hummed after knocking on the door and bounced up on her toes as she waited. After a minute the door opened and Seanagh was stood smiling on the other side. She welcomed her into the flat and the pair hugged each other tightly before going into the kitchen.

“It’s so good to see you this is such a surprise!” Seanagh had made them both coffee and the pair sat down at the breakfast bar.

“Yeah well, I thought we’d both be pretty busy this weekend so…” Mia trailed off. The two friends hadn’t seen as much of each other as they had done in the past. There had been the odd press conference where they were sat together, or the odd glance and friendly smile across the press pen and that was about it. “It’s so weird being back here” Mia looked around the kitchen, it hadn’t changed at all. Seanagh just smiled.

“So how’s it going?” Mia let out a long sigh.

“Could be better, could be worse…”

“And how’s it going with the championship leader?” Seanagh rested her chin in her hands and smirked which caused Mia to smile.

“Nico’s fine, well as fine as you can be when you’re fighting for the title” Mia heard footsteps behind her which seemed a bit odd, as Seanagh hadn’t said anything about having someone over. Seanagh looked over Mia’s shoulder and said good morning to whoever had just walked in. Mia, deciding to be coy, waited until the person was in front of her to see who it was. She nearly fell off her seat when she saw Sebastian walk into the kitchen to make himself a hot drink.

Mia looked between the two Ferrari team mates and started to laugh. “No way” Sebastian slowly turned round looking slightly confused. “Are you two actually-”

“No!” They both exclaimed in shock at the same time, Mia snickered and turned her attention back to her drink.

“Don’t be so ridiculous Mia” She couldn’t help but notice as Seanagh’s eyes followed Sebastian as he left the kitchen and went back to the spare room. Mia just grinned to herself and drank the rest of her coffee.

_Northampton_

Seanagh jogged along the street she knew all too well from years gone by. She looked at her watch and slowed to a brisk walk when she saw the coffee shop she was supposed to be in ten minutes ago and pushed the door open, only for half the people inside to stare at her as she was still in her Ferrari gear. Seanagh walked over to a table in the corner where two people were sitting on burgundy coloured sofas.

“I am so sorry I’m late” She had stayed at the event loner than intended as all of the girls who were there wanted pictures and autographs, which she had gladly stayed for.

“Oh my god look at you!” Seanagh had agreed to meet up with two of her old friends at the coffee shop they used to go to when they were in High School, neither of them seemed to care that Seanagh was late. She was hugged by Oliver and Alice in turn and flopped down onto the sofa with a long sigh. “Just the usual?” Oliver asked as Seanagh reached for her purse. “Oh don’t be silly, stop her from paying will you Ali?” Alice laughed and flicked her lilac coloured hair over her shoulder.

“Well look at you… literally” Alice looked at Seanagh’s Ferrari jacket and just shook her head, because Seanagh was running late she didn’t get the time to change into anything normal. “We still think you’re mad being a racing driver… but Ferrari though. It’s crazy isn’t it?” Oliver returned with a vanilla latte and sat down.

“I mean how on earth did you land a seat at Ferrari?!” Oliver adjusted his thick framed glasses as he spoke.

“Yeah I thought it was some man only club” Seanagh shook her head and laughed, she had thought that herself until she visited Maranello for the first time.

“Believe me it was all down to my manager” Just _how_  Becks had managed to sort out that deal was nothing short of a miracle.

“And that fact you're probably the best driver out there” Seanagh blushed at Alice’s comment, she knew herself she was a good driver, she didn’t exactly rate herself as the best though. “I’m getting a refill, do you want one?” She asked Oliver who nodded, as Alice left for the counter Seanagh finally took a long sip of her latte that had long since started to cool.

“It’s so strange, the four of us used to come here every day…” Oliver paused with a sigh; Seanagh wasn’t exactly keen on where he was going with the conversation. “That’s a thing did you hear about Tom?” Seanagh winced at the sound of his name and instinctively looked down at her left hand.

“No” Seanagh frowned, why she would want to hear or know about her ex-fiancé was beyond her. But then again Oliver was as good as keeping secrets as an old lady at the hairdressers.

“Go remarried last month, some woman his parents had found for him. They live in America now”

“I see” So the man she had dated since they were thirteen and had agreed to marry four years ago (and subsequently hadn’t seen since then) had found someone else. Wonderful.

As Alice returned she quickly read the look on Seanagh’s face and glared at Oliver and contemplated throwing her coffee over his head.

“You had to open your big mouth didn’t you?!” Alice was Tom’s sister, and like her brother didn’t view of her parents highly, hence why she moved out at sixteen and had been dying her hair a variety of pastel colours ever since. “Well I doubt it’s going to last and that’s all we’re saying on the matter” Alice hastily changed to subject to that weekend’s Grand Prix amongst other things, and after a couple of hours it was time for them to leave. The three hugged and said goodbye and went off in opposite directions, once Seanagh was in her car she looked at her watch and let out a long sigh and tried her best to push all unnecessary thoughts out of her mind before making the short drive towards her hotel, listening to the radio as she went.


	14. Nothing Like a Home Advantage

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Only the best homecomings come with champagne

_Thursday 7 th July – Silverstone _

“And today in the driver’s press conference we have Valtteri Bottas from Williams, Jenson Button from McLaren, Lewis Hamilton from Mercedes, Jolyon Palmer from Renault, Seanagh Palmer from Ferrari and Amelia Sanders from Renault. Seanagh, since you’re arguably the one with the best claim to home driver we’ll go to you first. You’ve said how much you love coming here, this year more than ever because you’re in a competitive car. Just how special is Silverstone to you and how much would it mean to have a good result here this weekend?” She sat up and gave a big smile to the room before speaking.

“Well first off good morning everyone. It’s really nice to be home, Silverstone has always been so special to me. Mainly because I’m from Northampton which is just a half hour’s drive away, which meant I was able to come here so often in karting and to see F1 races here which really started my love of motorsport. But yeah to be here in a competitive car gives me a lot of confidence that we can have a good result here, which would be wonderful for the fans. There’s a strong chance I could finish on the podium even… which would truly mean the world to me because of the emotional ties I have with this track”

“What do you make of Ferrari’s chances here this weekend?”

“Well… I’m certainly very hopeful. We’ve been on the podium I think at almost every race bar Monaco, so statistically we should be up there. Plus I’ve had a lot of success here in the junior categories, but there’s always the chance for some lovely British weather, so we’ll wait and see”

 

The majority of the questions from the floor were going to all of the British drivers, but it seemed that Seanagh, Jenson and Lewis were getting the most attention from the press.

“Seanagh, like Jenson there has been a lot of speculation about where you’re going to race next season. Can you say anything about your seat at Ferrari?” She looked for Richard who nodded in Seanagh’s direction from the side of the room, causing her to grin.

“Yes I can, I’m very happy to say that I’ll be at Ferrari next year driving with Sebastian” She heard an audible chorus of excited murmurs going around the crowd of journalists, Mia knocked off Seanagh’s hat in annoyance at not being told first, while Jenson leaned over Lewis and patted her on the shoulder. “It’s nice to have that monkey off my back now, so hopefully we can concentrate on the rest of the season and hopefully take the fight to Mercedes”

“Lewis what do you make of that?”

“Well, bring it on man! No but seriously, that’s awesome for you, and for the Brits to have another driver to cheer for. But I’ve seen how she can outperform a car when she needs to, so…” The 2013 races from China and Hungary seemed to have appeared in Lewis’ mind.

“Does this mean you have to concentrate now?” Seanagh joked, causing Lewis to give a slightly awkward laugh.

“Yeah, definitely”

 

Seanagh breathed a small smile of relief when she returned to the motorhome; she would soon be leaving again to film a feature with one of her home broadcasters and only had a few minutes to grab a quick drink. She dashed up the stairs to grab something from her driver room and gasped when she opened the door. On a small table was a large bouquet of red, white and blue flowers in the glass vase with a red ribbon tied around it.

“Oh my gosh” Seanagh smiled and went over to the bouquet and saw a small card with a Ferrari logo in between two roses.

_Good luck this weekend, make them proud x_

The card wasn’t signed so she assumed it was from the team, even though the handwriting didn’t look like Maurizio’s.

“You ready… oh wow” Richard walked in and gawked at the flowers. “They’re lovely, who got you those?”

“No idea” Seanagh shrugged and put the card back on the plastic clip.

“Well come on we can’t keep Sky waiting” Richard led her driver downstairs after she took a quick picture of the bouquet that seemed to put a smile on her face for the rest of the weekend.

 

_Saturday 9 th July – Qualifying _

In the closing minutes of Q3 Seanagh knew it was all on the line. She was currently in fourth, with Lewis yet to set a time and for everyone else to do their second runs. Out of everyone Seanagh was the last to go out, and started her lap with seconds to spare. With her SF-16H and the roar of the British fans behind her she pulled out every piece of lap time she could find. She still hadn’t felt like she had put a good lap together and now was probably the best time to do so. When she was the last driver to cross the finish line she was too nervous to look at the screen on her steering wheel, but the lap had felt so good that she had to send a message over to the team.

“Yes come on!!! How about that for a lap”

“Wow, you pulled that one out of the bag. We’re P3, best of the rest. You little star”

 

Seb let out a small yawn as he collected his things from his driver room at the end of the day. For whatever reason the day had felt longer than most and he wanted nothing more than to get back to the hotel and sleep off his awful qualifying.

“Hey Seb” Seanagh ran into him at the top of the stairs, she looked so happy. Almost has happy as she had been in Barcelona. For whatever reason seeing his team mate so delighted made him feel a little bit better. “Are you going back to the hotel?” He nodded. “Mind if I walk you to the car park?”

“Sure” Seb shrugged and waited for Seanagh to grab her things before they walked down the stairs together. “I suppose I should say congratulations” Her face split into a wide grin and she placed a hand on his arm when she said thank you.

“I’m so sorry about your penalty” She looked at him with a sympathetic gaze as they walked out into the paddock; it wasn’t hard to notice how much attention Seanagh got when they left the motorhome. Sebastian just shrugged and tightened his grip on his backpack. “It just would have been nice to have you up there with me that’s all” Seb finally smiled as they left the paddock and walked towards the car park.

“Make them proud tomorrow” Seb said as the pair reached their cars. Seanagh gave him a curious look before smiling.

“I don’t intend on doing anything else”

 

_Sunday 10 th July – British Grand Prix_

Seanagh grinned up at the sky when it started to rain, on her way up to the front of the grid she ran into Mark and DC and a poor Channel 4 cameraman who were all getting drenched by the sudden downpour, Mark especially since it seemed David had forgotten how to share an umbrella.

“Are you guys okay?” Seanagh asked as Mark dived under Seanagh’s umbrella absolutely soaking wet.

“Don’t mind me, you certainly look very happy”

“I certainly am, I got my rain” Seanagh grinned and bounced on the spot. “The rain dance worked” She chuckled at Richard’s shake of the head.

“It looks like it might be a safety car start, which will cement your P3 for a little while. Plus you’ve done and won many wet races here in the junior categories, which must fill you with a bit of confidence” Mark had to bend down slightly as he spoke because of how low Richard was holding the umbrella.

“Yeah, I’m quite relieved about that because Dan and Max are pretty good with their starts. When it dries it’ll be tricky however. But like you said I’ve done well here before, so we’ll see” Seanagh grinned at the camera before Richard placed a hand on Seanagh’s back telling her to get to the front of the grid.

“Best of luck, do us proud today!” DC gave Seanagh a little wave as she left.

“I’ll try my best!” Seanagh waved to the crowd once she was at the front of the grid before taking off her cap.

“Hey!” Lewis joined her and cheekily slid under her Ferrari umbrella out of the rain. It caused the few photographers who had stayed in the rain to start taking a hoard of pictures. “You look happy”

“Well I could definitely finish on the podium now” Lewis chuckled and he waved at the crowd as well.

“Considering how much you’re outdriving that Ferrari I wouldn’t put it past you”

“Don’t you forget it mate”

 

“Definitely starting to dry out now, Club, the main straight and Abbey are still quite wet though. But in general we might need inters soon” Seanagh occasionally had to move out of the spray to see where she was going, but for the most part the car felt pretty good in the current conditions, which the pit wall seemed to be surprised at. After another few laps Seanagh could see less water on the circuit, and was going to send a message to the team at Luffield when they beat her to it. “Safety car in this lap, what do you want to do with tyres?”

“Stay out on wets, someone might bring the safety car back out” When the safety car came in she saw a sea of cars pull into the pits, but Seanagh was driving with her gut instinct and knew that she was making the right call as those around her had chosen to stay out. A lap or two later one of the Manor’s went off at turn one, which brought out the virtual safety car. Seanagh stopped for inters on the next lap and came out in second on lap 8.

“Well that wasn’t a bad idea. Stick to it we’ve got a long race to go yet” Seanagh smiled as she heard a loud cheer coming out of Woodcote. Considering it was a British 1-2 the fans had a lot to cheer for.

 

Will stood at the back of the Ferrari garage with his hands to his face as he watched the race. He’d seen races in Formula 3 where his sister had finished on the podium many times, but the fact was this was Formula 1 made the whole family and the atmosphere on Seanagh’s side of the garage really tense. He pressed his headset over his ears when he heard another message come in.

“Okay Seanagh, you’re lapping roughly half a second faster than Hamilton. Look after the tyres and keep this up; you’re doing a fantastic job” Will let out a sigh of relief and smiled.

“Copy, copy” She pitted for slicks on lap nineteen with Lewis and came out in second once more ahead of Rosberg. The pit crew all rejoiced at a good pit stop while Will and his parents watched the race with bated breath.

 

And at the end of the race Seanagh crossed the finish line in second place, much to the immense joy of herself and the British crowd. The joy she felt when she crossed the line was just like in Spain, but there was something about the sight of British flags being waved excitedly that made her second place feel so much like a win. Seanagh tried to say some kind of message to the team but she was crying too much to be able to say anything.

“No-one knows how you pulled that one off. But you were an absolute stunner today, we are all so proud of you. Enjoy this one, not bad for a home race” Again like in Spain Dave sounded like he was teary eyed himself. Seanagh saw Lewis slow in front of her and she slowed to join him, and they drove as close as they could to each grandstand and waved to their home crowd. As she followed the Mercedes into parc ferme she waved at the fans and photographers. She sat in the car for a moment before composing herself and jumped out of the car and into her family’s arms.

“Well done darling, another podium. We’re so proud” Seanagh’s Dad was on the edge of crying and he held his daughter’s hand tightly. She grinned at her whole family and hugged them again before hugging all of her relieved looking mechanics. “Where did Seb finish?” Seanagh asked her number one mechanic, who’s bright smile faded into a small frown.

“Ninth”

“ _Ninth?!_ ” Seanagh asked over the sound of the oncoming mass of fans to watch the podium ceremony.

“We’ll worry about it later, go. Get your trophy” With one final look and a smile at her family Seanagh turned to head towards scrutineering to get weighed, gently patting the nose of her car on the way.

 

Seb looked at the timing screens in scrutineering and sighed. Luckily he had kept his ninth place despite his penalty but somehow, Seanagh had finished in second. He was beginning to think that his team mate was some kind of miracle worker.

“Seb!” Seanagh jumped down from the scales and approached him and placed a comforting hand on his shoulder “I’m so sorry about your race”

“Don’t be” He shook his head and gently squeezed her arm. “You saved our skin again, congratulations” Seb left for the Ferrari garage, already wanting to forget the whole weekend.

 

There was some kind of incredible atmosphere on the podium; the cheers of the crowd and the sea of British flags made it all feel so much more special than all of her podium finishes combined. Seanagh hummed along to the anthems and gave the occasional wave to her family, team and the fans. Once she had been given her trophy she jumped down and ran forward with it high in the air to an almighty cheer before taking her spot back on the podium again. The champagne was sprayed and pictures were taken before Mark Webber joined them all for the podium interviews.

“Now Seanagh…” She got a cheer that more than matched Lewis’. “First off, congratulations” He patted her on the shoulder with a small smile.

“Local girl makes good huh?” She laughed and waved at the crowd again with a grin.

“Now in commentary, we were all discussing how it seemed you were utterly just outdriving that Ferrari car out there today” Mark looked and sounded rather impressed.

“First of all I just want to thank every single person that’s here today. The British fans are always just the absolute best, and to be standing here on the podium in front of you all is by far the best feeling in the world. I said on Thursday how I grew up around here, just fifteen miles away. So Silverstone has always held a special place in my heart and I have to thank you all for supporting me as much as you have today” The fans cheered and clapped and Mark waited for it to quiet down.

“But about your pace today, your team mate Seb was in P9 today and you’re here, so what’s going on with that?”

“To be honest we don’t know how Seb and myself have been so far apart in terms of pace this weekend. Luckily we have the test next week to try and solve our problems before Hungary in two weeks’ time”

 

Maurizio sighed with relief when Seanagh walked into the post-race debrief with her trophy. He knew the car wasn’t good enough for second this weekend, let alone a podium at all, so how Seanagh had managed it was utterly outstanding.

“Thank you piccolina” Maurizio shook her hand and smiled at her with relief. “You did a very good job, you outdrove the car today”

“Just doing what I’m paid to do” Seanagh shrugged and looked at her trophy. “But this is the best one to add to the collection”

“You deserve it, but we need to put in a lot of work to fix the problems that Sebastian had on his car. We need you _both_ up there” To his relief she gave a small nod, and her usual determined expression briefly returned.

“Would be okay if I stayed here for the test on Tuesday? If there’s anything I can do to sort out our problems and help Seb then I’m more than happy to do it” Again Maurizio had the feeling that signing Seanagh was a brilliant idea.

“The more the merrier” Seanagh placed her trophy down and went to take her seat when she spoke again.

“Oh and before I forget” Maurizio sat down and looked up at his driver. “I don’t know whose idea it was but I just wanted to say thank you for the lovely flowers” Maurizio raised an eyebrow in confusion.

“Flowers?”

“Yeah I went into my room on Thursday and there was this massive bouquet, the card had a Ferrari logo on it so I just assumed they were from the team” Maurizio shook his head and crossed his arms, as nice as an idea it sounded he knew nothing about anyone in the team buying his driver a bouquet. The look on Seanagh’s face was one of slight disappointment as she sat down. “If you want I could ask who got them for you?”

“Oh no, it’s fine you don’t need to” She politely smiled as Sebastian walked in with his engineers, Maurizio looked at his watch and gave Seb a disapproving look for his tardiness before finally starting the debrief.

 

Later on in the evening the whole Palmer family went out for dinner at a restaurant in Northampton to celebrate. The whole atmosphere was all very relaxed, considering Jolyon’s DNF it was greatly appreciated. After being thoroughly fed and watered they left in two halves, Jo and his family had left first so watch the Euro 2016 final and Seanagh’s family left after taking a few pictures with the restaurant staff and some of the diners. Her parents drove Seanagh back to her hotel and wished her and Ferrari well for the test. She walked into reception and hummed quietly to herself, her heels clicking against the floor.

“Well, don’t you look lovely” Seanagh spun round and saw Sebastian behind her, who looked to have just left the hotel restaurant by himself.

“Um… thank you” She was wearing a black cocktail dress with beige heels and was carrying a red clutch bag; she wasn’t wearing a jacket because of how warm an evening it was. Seanagh started walking again once Seb was with her, she didn’t realise she was blushing until she saw herself in one of the lift’s mirrored walls.

“Sorry for being so pissed off after the race”

“You had a shit race, I understand. We’ll sort it out at the test” Seanagh gave a small shrug as she led Seb out onto their floor.

“You wouldn’t mind sharing some of that eternal optimism would you?” Seb laughed and stuffed his hands in his pockets and casually leaned against the wall facing his team mate once they were outside their rooms. “You know, I really should thank you”

“For what?” Seanagh tilted her head to the side.

“For choosing Ferrari”

“Oh” Seanagh gasped and couldn’t help but stare into Seb’s blue eyes. “Well…” For once, Seanagh was speechless.

“It’s just that… when Kimi retired we needed someone like you. We knew it would take a while to convince the board… so Maurizio waited until you had the contract” Seanagh chuckled, that definitely sounded like the Maurizio thing to do. “You proved yourself today, and we are all so proud of you” He stood up straight and placed a hand on Seanagh’s shoulder and kissed her cheek. “See you Tuesday for the test”

“See you” With a wave Seanagh entered her room and leaned against the door once it was shut, she sighed and ran her hands through her hair. The way Sebastian had kissed her cheek was so tender and meaningful than the ones before, and thinking about it over and over brought a hot flush to her face.


	15. First Signs of Trouble

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> All is never really as it seems

_Friday 22 nd July – Hungaroring, Budapest_

Seanagh walked into the paddock with Richard and Vanessa by her side, she smiled at any photographers and waited until the three of them were in her driver room before resuming the conversation they had in the hotel at breakfast.

“I just didn’t expect Marchionne to be so hard on everyone at that meeting. I mean you’ve won a race and you and Seb have had a decent amount of podiums… he could have been a little more accepting of that” Richard spoke quietly and looked down at his shoes.

“I mean it’s not our fault that Mercedes are almost too good, I just don’t get what we’re going wrong” Vanessa sighed and leaned against the massage table and looked at her driver. “Seanagh?”

“I’m worried about Seb” She frowned and looked out of the window to see her team mate arriving in the paddock being surrounded by photographers. “He’s just been off ever since Marchionne’s big speech, not to mention the pressure Maurizio has been putting on everyone as a result” She liked to think that she knew Seb well enough that he was able to deal with the added pressure that Ferrari were piling into them for the weekend. But seeing his slightly worried face at breakfast put a small bit of doubt in her mind.

“I mean yeah it’s a lot to deal with, but I’m sure he had worse at Red Bull” Seanagh bit her bottom lip, stopping herself from saying that that wasn’t the case. “I need to head down to PR anyway; I’ll see you guys at lunch!”

 

Richard left Seanagh and Vanessa to have their conversation alone as he had decided earlier on to sift through some of these articles that had been brought up in their discussion to see if there was any truth in the matter. And he probably needed to give Britta a bit of professional support too.

“Ouch… oh sorry Richard I didn’t see you” He looked up and saw Sebastian staring back at him with his bag over his shoulder and his red pass and scooter helmet in his hands; he’d obviously just arrived at the track.

“No it’s alright Sebastian I wasn’t looking where I was going” Richard smiled politely at Sebastian and went to go to PR, but instead he stayed chatting with the German driver on the stairs. “Is uh… everything okay?”

“Yeah I guess so, did Antti and Britta get in alright?”

“I gave them a lift in; I take it the Vespa ran well then?” A smile burst onto Sebastian’s face, when he and Richard ever talked it was almost always about motorbikes.

“Like a dream, you really should get one you know, they’re great for when you just need some space” Richard hummed and leaned against the banister. “Anyway you look like you’re busy; I’ll leave you to it. I’m guessing Seanagh’s already here” Seb brushed past him and slowly walked up the stairs.

“Yeah she’s in her room with Vanessa” On the short walk to the small PR office Richard couldn’t help but realise that Sebastian never asked Richard about Seanagh in conversation until just then.

 

After dumping his things in his room he found himself waiting at Seanagh’s door after knocking. He heard Seanagh and Vanessa rounding off their conversation with a lot of laughter before the latter opened the door wide.

“Oh hey Seb, what can I do you for?” Vanessa left – probably to get Seanagh some food or coffee of some kind – leaving the two team mates alone.

“Can I talk to you for a minute?” She gave a small smile and let Seb in. He walked over the massage table in the corner and leaned against it with his arms folded across his chest.

“What’s the matter?” Seanagh closed the door and stood with her back firmly against it.

“How do you deal with it?” Seb didn’t mean to snap at her but he was so worked up that he couldn’t help it.

“How do I deal with what?”

“The pressure, this…” He waved his hands in the air and ended up sitting down on the floor with his head in his hands.

“Jeez…” Seanagh sighed and sat down beside Sebastian. “I was hoping you weren’t actually rattled… bloody hell Seb you can’t let this get to you now” It wasn’t just the pressure from the team. It was having to see her almost every single day at the factory while trying to fight all of the old feelings that had been bubbling away for months. For the moment they were getting along fine but there had been times when Seb had been so close to saying the wrong thing and ruining everything. He knew that trying to put the team first was the right thing but it was driving him mad.

“Well you’re doing fine” He sounded so bitter, and again he didn’t want to be. None of this was her fault. “We’re all trying so hard and yet it’s still not enough for some people” Seanagh scoffed and stood up, hauling Seb up with her and pulled him into a tight embrace, hugging him around his waist. The fact that she was hugging him did distract Seb for a moment, and he wrapped his arms round her as tightly as he could and rested his chin on the top of her head. He let out a small shaky sigh and squeezed his arms around her shoulders. Neither of them said anything for a few minutes allowing Seb to compose himself, which he was incredibly grateful for.

“Now that’s done…” Seanagh stepped out of the hug and folded her arms across her chest, Sebastian would have perfectly happy with that hug lasting for another few minutes, or even the rest of the weekend. “For the love of our dear Enzo Ferrari _please_ pull yourself together. If we’re going to have a good result this weekend then I need you to stop piling all of this pressure on yourself okay? And if you do that then we have a great result in the bag already” She could always read him so well; she’d probably known the second she saw him that he was stressed.

“What makes you so sure?” Seanagh just smiled, her eternal hope and optimism showing itself again. That alone made Seb smile too.

 

_Saturday 23 rd July _

The rain had finally cleared when Sebastian returned to the motorhome with Britta. He moved his sunglasses from his eyes to hanging off the collar of his shirt as he looked around the hospitality floor to see Seanagh frowning over her small pile of notebooks and data sheets. Poor thing was probably beating herself up over qualifying.

“Hey, chin up it’s not that bad” Seb walked over to his team mate and lifted her drooping head with the knuckle of his index finger, and kept it there for a few seconds. The wet conditions had been so abysmal on track, he was just glad to see her back in the motorhome in one piece.

“You can talk” Seanagh swatted away his hand but held onto it for just a moment. “You’re the one starting in fifth place” She sighed and looked back at her data sheets. “I missed the chequered flag by this much, if I hadn’t nearly lost it at the last corner I could have got another lap in and made Q3 instead of being in P14” Seanagh frowned and rubbed a hand across her forehead.

“It could _still_ be worse” She looked up at him, the look on her face saying ‘ _just how could it possibly be worse?_ ’ “You could be in fifteenth” Seanagh gave Seb a small smile and a chuckle before looking back at her data sheets. Seb looked at his watch and deciding that he had nothing else to do and seeing that Britta had already wandered off, he sat down with the offer of helping out his team mate.

 

Later on that evening Will was sat in his room transferring his pictures from the day onto his laptop for editing. After backing up the files twice he deleted the pictures from the camera and began to sift through the hundreds of photographs and came across one that caught his eye. Given where it was in the folder it must have been after qualifying, and the lack of racking overalls on the two figures confirmed that.

The picture was of Seanagh and Sebastian, Seanagh was sat at a table in the Ferrari motorhome looking over data sheets and Seb was standing by her table, lifting her head with just the knuckle of his index finger. And they both had small smiles on their faces. Knowing the photograph was far too precious to share with the world he moved it to a folder with the rest of his private family photos, and carried on with editing and watermarking the rest of the day’s pictures.

 

_Sunday 24 th July_

Seb didn’t head straight up to his room after the race. Instead he stood in the main hospitality area with his overalls hanging from his hips watching one of the TV screens. The post-race press conference was due to start in a few minutes but Seb didn’t care because neither he nor his team mate were in it.

Despite the weather staying dry the race really hadn’t done to plan. He’d finished in fourth and had been so close to passing Daniel but sadly not close enough. Apparently it was the same story for Seanagh who had came home in sixth a second or so behind Verstappen. Seb found himself biting down on his lip and shaking his head when he thought about the race, he really hoped this wasn’t the start of a downturn in form because that wasn’t what anyone needed. At all.

“Don’t worry there’s always the next one” Sebastian turned his head and saw Richard and Seanagh walk in after speaking to the press. Richard had an arm round Seanagh’s shoulder as if to comfort her. Seb cautiously waved at the pair and Seanagh walked over to Seb, claiming that she would only be a few minutes.

“Hey” The team mates enveloped each other in a strong hug not thinking about where they were; Seanagh’s arms were around Seb’s neck while Sebastian’s hands were carefully placed around the Brit’s waist. They stayed like that for as long as they could in the hope the people wouldn’t take notice; Seanagh was first to lean out of the hug after half a minute when she heard people start to murmur. “Well done on fourth”

“I heard you got into trouble with Max” Seanagh’s eyebrows jumped up her head as she pulled a face.

“Nearly, I had to back out of it otherwise someone would have gotten a puncture so…” Her voice trailed off and her shoulders fell with a small shrug. “Still, sixth is much better than seventh”

“I’m sorry your fiftieth race didn’t go better” Seb placed a hand on her shoulder and rubbed his thumb against Seanagh’s nomex fireproofs.

“Are you kidding?! I over took so many people today I had the best time” Her eyes began to sparkle as she smiled and bounced up on her toes. They turned and watched the press conference as Nico and Lewis had already started making subtle digs at each other. “If anything I’m glad we’re not in their shoes” Seb looked at Seanagh with a small hum and a raised eyebrow. “After all the last person I would want to not so secretly hate is you” Seb blushed as Seanagh looked behind her to see Britta who was now stood with Richard tapping her watch with a frown. “We should probably get changed” Seb nodded and tried not to react when Seanagh put an arm around his lower back as they walked up the stairs, thankfully behind their press officers.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Since this and the next one are really just filler chapters I'll post the next one on Monday.


	16. Questions and Visitors

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The things that happen at the back of garages and behind the paddock's closed doors

_Friday 29 th July – Hockenheimring_

For whatever reason, Ferrari had some ‘extra special guests’ in the garage for the whole race weekend. Seanagh had no idea who they were (Richard had decided to not tell her), only that they wanted to speak to the driver before the start of first practice. She left for the garage a few minutes early and when she walked in the garage looked no busier or quieter than usual. She tucked a few flyaway hairs behind her ear and turned towards Seb’s side of the garage to see her team mate (and surprisingly Will) taking to a couple that she could only see the back of. They all laughed over a joke and Seanagh cautiously approached the group assuming they were the people who had wanted to see her.

“Good morning… oh hello Kimi” Once Seanagh was by their side she saw Kimi, Minttu and their son Robin being held by Sebastian, who had seemed to given the child his cap. Minttu greeted Seanagh with a bright smile and a small hug, after they had met at Austin last year they had ended up keeping in touch and they got on surprisingly well. Kimi shook Seanagh’s hand and Robin who was feeling somewhat left out gave Seanagh a tiny wave which everyone cooed at. Seb put Robin gently down onto the floor who toddled back over to his Dad.

“So how’s things?” Minttu asked. “I’m sorry Hungary didn’t go too well” Kimi scoffed and muttered something about Max to Seb under his breath.

“Well I’m still ahead of Seb in the championship so I suppose it’s not too bad” Seanagh winked at her team mate who pulled a fake mini-strop, which caused Robin to fill the garage with giggles. Minttu looked at her watch and whispered to Kimi who shook his head, glancing at Seanagh as he did.

“I think we should be going” Kimi looked around the garage; first practice was only ten minutes away. Will said something about taking a quick picture of Kimi and Minttu for Ferrari’s social media, so Kimi briskly handed his son over to Seanagh who held him as if he was fine china, luckily she had the experience of being around Will when he was Robin’s size and very gently balanced him on her hip.

“I think he likes you” Seb remarked as he walked over and swapped his cap for the black one Robin had been wearing when he arrived. Robin had a very sweet smile on his face as he looked up at Seanagh and clung onto her overalls. “But then again everyone does” Seanagh blushed as Kimi and Minttu were done being photographed; Seanagh carefully gave Robin back to his Mum who was now looking sad about leaving the garage.

“Hug!” Robin pointed at Seb and Seanagh and looked at his parents, as if they were going to say no. They spoke to him in Finnish, probably that it would have to be very quick hugs, and carefully set him down on the ground. Seanagh and Seb crouched down and gently hugged the child before the Raikkonen family left and the garage quickly sprung into its loud self in an instant.

 

After first practice Seanagh dived into the motorhome to quickly get changed back into her team gear for lunch before heading back downstairs. As she was in such a rush she didn’t look where she was going and nearly tripped over a chair leg, thankfully an outstretched arm had stopped her from falling onto the floor.

“Thank you” Seanagh brushed herself down and looked up at her rescuer to see Seb sat with his mother and father, whose faces looked incredibly surprised to be seeing her. “Um, hello” Seanagh hadn’t met Seb’s family, despite the fact they knew about their relationship. “Sorry for disturbing your lunch” The whole table looked incredibly awkward, Sebastian especially, Seanagh really couldn’t blame them.

“It’s alright, are you hurt?” Seb’s mother looked at Seanagh with genuine concern. Seanagh looked down at her foot and deemed it to be fine.

“No I’m okay, I’ll uh… leave you all to your lunch” Seanagh politely smiled at Seb and his parents before going back towards where Richard and Vanessa were sat. She had almost made it back to safety when she walked right into a man’s chest. Seanagh rubbed her nose and made a mental not to seriously look where she was going next time before quickly realising that she should apologise.

“I’m so sorry I didn’t-” When Seanagh looked up, the last person she had expected to see was Fabian – Seb’s younger brother. She had only briefly met him once in the paddock, but since then he seemed to have grown a lot, and looked to be almost Seb’s height. “Hello” Seanagh nervously spoke, Fabian looked just as dazed and confused as she was.

“Hello” His voice – also deeper than Seanagh had remembered – sounded slightly embarrassed. “Sorry for walking into you” He blushed and glanced down at his feet.

“Oh no… it was probably my fault. I never look where I’m going” Seanagh laughed nervously before chewing on her bottom lip. “Sebastian tells me you’re racing now too” Fabian looked up, the dazed look still present on his face.  “Best of luck with it, um…”

“Seanagh!”

“Fabian!” The pair awkwardly nodded at each other before diving off in different directions. Once Seanagh had eventually sat down next to Richard she quickly buried her head in her hands before sitting up and trying her best to look normal. Richard and smiled at Seanagh sympathetically and patted her shoulder. Seanagh huffed and looked at her watch, counting the seconds until she could be back in the car.

 

“Hey!” Kimi waved at Seb as he came down the stairs after getting changed, he looked over where Seanagh was sat eating alone before walking over to Kimi’s table. He pushed out the chair opposite him with his foot and invited Seb to sit down. “Alright?” As Kimi was no longer Seb’s team mate the two friends didn’t see each other as much, despite Seb making as much time as he could to visit. Sebastian sighed as he sat down and ran his hands through his hair.

“Those Red Bulls…” Seb shook his head and looked over at his current team mate again who was now talking to Minttu. “You said you wanted to talk to me?”

“Just to ask how you’re doing?”

“Fine” Seb shrugged.

“No I meant with her” Kimi tilted his head towards Seanagh, Seb sunk down in his chair and began rubbing circles into the palm of his hand with his thumb.

“I told you it’s fine” Seb gave a very blasé shrug at which Kimi raised an eyebrow, Seb should have been able to tell Kimi that it wasn’t, but maybe not considering where they were. “I don’t want to be rude but…”

“Go, we can talk about the other thing later” Kimi smiled as Seb jumped out of his seat and headed towards the engineer’s office.

 

About an hour or two after second practice had ended Minttu managed to find Seanagh by herself in the Ferrari motorhome having a light meal, probably before heading back to the garage to fine tune her set up with the engineers.

“Hey, I’m afraid I won’t be the best company we’ve got the engineers meeting starting soon”

“It’s alright; I just wanted to speak to you briefly anyway”

“Everything okay?” She ate a final forkful of food and washed it down with a few glugs of her drink and just about managed a smile.

“Actually, I wanted to ask you something” The colour almost drained from the young Brit’s face and she put on a polite smile. “I don’t know if Sebastian had mentioned it but Kimi and me are getting married next month”

“Oh that’s wonderful” Seanagh breathed a sigh of relief and smiled genuinely.

“Yes well, I know it’s very short notice but Kimi wanted to invite a few people from Ferrari and I was wondering if you’d like to come to the wedding reception”

“Oh” Seanagh’s eyes widened and she nearly dropped her fork on the floor. “Gosh um…”

“Kimi said something about people becoming family when they drive for Ferrari, I just thought it would be a nice gesture, if you wouldn’t be comfortable then…”

“No, I uh… I’d love to come. It’s awfully nice of you to ask” Minttu smiled and pulled out her phone. “I really need to go the debrief but if you give Will the details then I’ll get them after” Seanagh pointed to the back of her brother’s head who was very focused on his laptop.

“Okay, see you tomorrow” Seanagh nodded and got up from her chair and rushed towards the engineer’s office. Minttu looked across hospitality to see Seb dash off after speaking to Kimi, who met Minttu’s eyes and gave her a small thumbs up and a knowing smile.

 

_Sunday 31 st July _

There was a horrible atmosphere in the Ferrari motorhome after the race. It appeared that Hungary had been a true sign of Ferrari’s pace as both Seb and Seanagh finished behind the Red Bulls in fifth and sixth. The debrief lasted well over two hours. Maurizio had been firing questions at just about everyone, and it seemed that no one could give a good enough answer. Even Seb was relieved when the debrief was over.

Seanagh couldn’t help but feel bad for him, he deserved better at his home race considering the next shot he’d get at it would be in two years time.

“See you in Belgium then” Seanagh tried her best to smile at him, it didn’t work as all Seb replied with was a blasé shrug. “I hope you have a nice summer”

“Yeah you too, have a safe flight home” Sebastian briefly held a hand on her arm before he went downstairs and left the motorhome with his family. Seanagh jogged down to the main hospitality area where Richard and Vanessa were waiting with their bags. “Ready?”

“Definitely” Poor Richard looked exhausted, a downturn in Ferrari form meant the press office had to do double time to cover their team’s back. As they walked out into the paddock Seanagh looked over her shoulder at the grand Ferrari motorhome in all its red splendour.

She was planning on thoroughly enjoying her summer in the hope that everything after that would be much, much better.

But first she had a wedding to look forward to.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Funny things weddings, you never know just who might turn up...


	17. Tell Me Something I Don't Know

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Too much sun can do funny things to your head

_Friday 5 th August – Greece_

The Mediterranean sun was already high in the bright blue sky, shining down on the locals and holidaymakers on one of Crete’s many golden beaches. The almost-turquoise sea lazily moved in a gentle motion, making a very quiet sound as it did. There was no sound in the air other than the sea and the occasional bird swooping over the gentle waves; it was so close to paradise.

“Will are you still taking pictures? We’re on _holiday_ ” Seanagh had treated her parents and brother to a well-earned family holiday, and given her rise in income thanks to Ferrari they were staying at one of Crete’s finest five star all-inclusive resorts, complete with a private beach and no less than three swimming pools. She had been texting Mia, mainly exchanging beach views as her friend was currently in Ibiza with Nico, when Will returned from the beach looking at his camera.

“Holiday means doing what I want, _meaning_ taking pictures of this beautiful sea view. Just relax sis” Seanagh rolled her eyes behind her sunglasses and turned over onto her front, resting her head on her crossed arms. “I see that didn’t take long” Will sat down on his lounger and carefully began to put his camera away. “When is it you’re going to Italy?”

“Early Sunday morning, and don’t mention it in public! I don’t want people to overhear”

“I doubt anyone here would be interested in Kimi Raikkonen’s wedding” Will scoffed with a shrug.

 

“Oh no Fabian come on, that’s not fair!” Seb looked at his grinning younger brother from across the ping pong table and placed his hands on his hips with a shake of the head.

“You can’t win _everything_ Seb” Their parents came over and ruffled Fabian’s hair, Norbert walked over to Seb and patted his shoulder.

“It’s getting warm; can you get us some drinks?”

“Sure” He moved his sunglasses from the neck of his t-shirt to over his eyes and headed over to the bar. One of the perks at staying at an all-inclusive resort was that everything was already paid for with their bright pink wristbands.

Sebastian stood in the queue for a few minutes and turned to head back to the ping pong table after the barman offered to bring the drinks to Seb’s table. The path he had taken to get to the bar was now blocked thanks to a large group standing around, so Seb opted to walk through the sun loungers back to his table. He looked over his shoulder out towards the sea and sighed with a small smile, it was just so nice to get away from everything F1 related. The stunning view was just a bonus.

The sound of something being kicked along the sand brought Seb’s attention down to his feet; he looked down and saw a pair of expensive looking sunglasses that he much have knocked with his shoe. Looking down at the marks in the sand he figured they must have been resting by the lounger a few feet away from him, where a young woman in a white bikini and long brown hair was lying on her front.

“Excuse me Miss, are these yours?” Seb asked the woman in English, he didn’t want to startle her by speaking a language she potentially didn’t understand. She sat up and Seb’s eyes widened when a familiar green pair were looking up at him.

“Thank you” One of Seanagh’s manicured hands took the sunglasses from Seb’s hand and she looked at the band on Seb’s wrist and frowned at the matching one she wore. So much for getting away from everything.

“I won’t say anything if you won’t”

“Good idea” Seb marched back towards his family and found that their drinks had already arrived, he sat down in the free chair that faced away from the beach and took a large gulp of his cola.

“Everything alright love?” His mother asked sounding slightly concerned. Seb forced a grin and took off his sunglasses.

“Never better”

 

Seanagh groaned and flipped over onto her back and put her retrieved sunglasses in her bag so they didn’t get lost again. Will returned from the bar with a drink in each hand, when Seanagh was given her drink she took a long sip through the straw and sighed.

“Everything okay?” Will asked sheepishly, brushing his messy hair out of his face.

“Fine” Seanagh faked a smile and went back to sunbathing. Will hummed and took a sip of his drink and with a final bemused look at his sister began taking pictures of the turquoise sea.

 

_Sunday 7 th August – Italy_

The taxi pulled up outside the door of an expensive looking hotel on the outskirts of some small Tuscan town. The sun as expected was shining down on the small corner of central Italy making everything look beautiful. Seanagh cautiously walked up the stone steps in her beige four inch heels, her knee-length rose coloured dress fluttering in the slight breeze.

“Excuse me, I’m here for the Raikkonen wedding reception” Her Italian was rusty at best, and the disgruntled man standing by a white plinth seemed to have noticed.

“Name” He replied in English and didn’t even look up from the guest list.

“Palmer” The lobby that she was standing in was silent; she was beginning to wonder if she had been driven to the right hotel. The sight of Kimi striding in from outside thankfully confirmed that she wasn’t.

“Identification”

“That won’t be necessary” Kimi smiled at Seanagh with a small nod and pointed somewhere on the list. “Come with me” Kimi placed a hand on her shoulder and walked about a hundred meters before unexpectedly pulling Seanagh into a hug. “Thank you for coming” When they had been in F1 together Kimi rarely betted an eyelid towards her, she was stunned into near silence by the very affectionate and friendly gesture.

“Thank you for inviting me” Seanagh politely smiled and continued walking with Kimi outside onto a stone terrace and down to a vast lawn that had been filled with white tables and chairs and a large dance floor that looked to be next to a small lake. Each table had been decorated with tall glass vases filled with pale pink and white roses and small fairy lights with white paper lanterns scattered around the grass. “And congratulations, I’m so happy for you”

“I’m happy for me too” Kimi grinned as Minttu came into sight and spotted the young Brit with her husband. As expected she too was beaming from ear to ear as she walked over to join them, they hugged briefly and Kimi left to take over the mingling duties.

“Congratulations… you look stunning that’s such a gorgeous dress” Minttu’s sleek black hair had been styled into a bun and her long white dress hugged her figure perfectly making her look every inch the beautiful bride.

“Thank you” Minttu pulled Seanagh into another tight hug, still effortlessly beaming. “And thank you so much for coming”

“I’m happy to be here” Maurizio and Stefania appeared out of nowhere and Seanagh was glad to see someone she actually knew. Thankfully that Raikkonen’s seemed to have realised that and sat them all at the same table with some of Kimi’s old rallying friends, everyone seemed to be united in their surprise at getting an invitation at what was turning out to be quite a big deal of a wedding reception.

 

The party got underway with a four course meal, and most importantly a slice of wedding cake, and Seanagh was thankfully managing to enjoy herself. Word seemed to have travelled that she was there and some of Kimi’s friends had awkwardly came over to speak to her, thankfully they were all incredibly polite so she didn’t mind at posing for the odd picture and a brief chat.

The hours passed and the sky turned black and was lit up with stars as the sea of lamps and fairy lights provided light on the ground. Seanagh sat at her table alone watching people dance and celebrate, her eyes drawn to Kimi and Minttu dancing with their son between them. She had never seen a happier family other than her own.

“I don’t think I want to believe this” Seanagh turned round at the familiar voice and looked up at the person who was stood behind her. She smiled when she saw Sebastian standing in a well fitted black tuxedo. He had a warm smile on his face and his eyes looked more striking than they had ever been; she had to stop herself from thinking about how handsome he looked. Then again they weren’t at a racetrack or the factory, so she didn’t really have to be professional with him.

“I don’t think I want to either” Seanagh sighed, but gestured Seb to take one of the seats that had been empty for at least an hour. “And here’s me thinking Kimi hadn’t invited you” Seb laughed with a sigh and went to adjust his cufflinks.

“Well I don’t have to tell you _everything_ ”

“Well the holiday plans I could understand…” Seanagh trailed off to more of Seb’s laughter. “It looks like we can’t stop following each other”

“Well it was you that gate-crashed my holiday” Sebastian grinned; he seemed to be enjoying himself.

“ _Me_?! I’ve been there since…” Seanagh saw the smirk on Seb’s face and became tempted to hit him. “Even on summer break you’re still trying to tease me” Seb just laughed with a wide grin, Seanagh stood up in front of her team mate who suddenly stopped laughing.

“Are you asking me to dance?” He looked up at Seanagh with a small twinkle in his eyes and a flirtatious smile. Maurizio had left hours ago and it was only the families and friends of the bride and groom there – people who certainly wouldn’t be bothered by two team mates dancing together. Without saying anything the pair walked down to the dancefloor area and Seb spun Seanagh round into a close waltz hold, their eyes level thanks to Seanagh’s heeled shoes. “You look beautiful” Seanagh blushed and looked down at her toes.

“Not too bad yourself Seb” When Seanagh’s eyes eventually met Seb’s his face fell and he stopped dancing.

“Excuse me” Seb darted off towards the terrace that led back into the hotel, no one else took notice but Seanagh quickly left the dance floor and jogged through the tables and caught Seb as he was half way up the steps.

“Wait!” Seanagh reached out and grabbed Sebastian’s hand, thankfully it was enough to make him stop and turn round. They were so far away from the packed dancefloor and glittering lights, it was just them. “Seb what on earth’s the matter?” They had only been together for a very enjoyable five minutes. Seanagh kept a hold of his hand so he didn’t dart off, Sebastian sighed and sat down on one of the stone steps and waited for Seanagh to sit next to him. She finally let go of his hand which caused Seb to sigh and run a hand through his hair.

“I’ve been meaning to tell you something for months but…” He paused and ran a finger round the inside of his shirt collar. “I don’t know if you’ll want to hear it”

“I’ve got a thick skin I’m sure I can take it” Seb rubbed his hands together and started to pick under his fingernails and took in a long breath. The words seemed to tumble out of Seb’s mouth as he spoke.

“I didn’t want to break up with you; I only did it because I didn’t want to tell Ferrari in case they tried to tarnish your reputation or something. I talked myself into it; on the flight to Russia I started over thinking everything and for some reason I thought it was going to be a good idea but…” Seb paused; Seanagh placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder. “I’ve just felt so miserable ever since. And then last year Maurizio told me you were going to be my team mate and working with you has just been so _easy_ and…” He stopped himself before he said any more.

His words had almost hit Seanagh like brick to the face. So he didn’t want to end their relationship, so he wasn’t ashamed of Seanagh driving for McLaren as she had long feared, so there was a chance, maybe, that he had still loved her then and only did what he did out of convenience rather than want.

Seanagh turned to look at Sebastian, his hands were clasped in front of his face and he almost looked relieved, he’d clearly wanted to tell her for a while but of course she had no idea how long.

Seb turned his head and his face was just millimetres from Seanagh’s, turned out the pair had been sat incredibly close together and they hadn’t noticed. She looked into eyes that she had loved so much, that were the most gorgeous bright blue she had ever seen. She moved her hand from Seb’s shoulder to his face where she brushed her thumb across his jaw and down to his chin where she gently lifted his head, and closed the gap between them with the softest of kisses. After a few seconds Seb pulled away but stayed perfectly still and just rested his forehead against Seanagh’s.

“I’ve missed you so much” Seanagh blinked back a few tears as Sebastian went to hold her other hand. “You’ve always been so dear to me Seb, even after everything we’ve been through I…” She leaned back and looked at her team mate, whose bright smile had thankfully returned. He took Seanagh’s hands in his and pulled her up with him and led her back down the steps and onto the grass.

“I’ve missed you too” He tucked a lock of her hair behind her ear and slid his hands down to her waist. Seanagh placed her hands on Seb’s shoulders and gave him a beaming smile.

“Is now a bad time to say that you look really handsome in that suit?” They both chuckled before Seb leaned down for a passionate, intense kiss. He pulled Seanagh in as close to him as he could and smiled when she started running the tips of her fingers through his hair. They were so far away from everyone that no one could see them, not that they would have been bothered if anyone had noticed, they were far too engrossed in each other to care.

They both pulled away feeling breathless, and Seb frowned as he gently brushed away a bit of smudged lipstick from the corner of Seanagh’s mouth with his thumb.

“Can we finish our dance now?” Seanagh asked with a small smile. Sebastian just grinned and took one of Seanagh’s hands in his and intertwined them together as they slowly walked back towards the dancefloor while above their heads fireworks of every colour lit up the night sky.


	18. Falling Back

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some things are just too easy to do

_Wednesday 24 th August – Driver’s Hotel_

Sebastian took off his sunglasses as he walked into the hotel reception wheeling his suitcase behind him following Britta and Antti. Jolyon, Will, Vanessa and Richard were all there and waiting on Seanagh to finish checking into her room. Seb smiled at the small group and said hello as Seanagh turned round, her face splitting into a wide grin at the sight of her team mate. Seb stepped aside and let Britta and Antti check into their room first.

“Good morning” Seb smiled tucking his sunglasses into the collar of his shirt.

“Morning” Seanagh smirked, she still looked perfectly sun kissed from her holiday with a slight tan and the sun had even brought out some bronze coloured highlights in her dark hair. She looked beautiful; he would have kissed her then had there been no one had been around. “Have a nice holiday?” She winked; they hadn’t told anyone about Greece, or Tuscany, preferring to keep it as their own little secret.

“Oh you know…” Seb’s mind wandered back to Kimi’s wedding and he grinned. “Very quiet” Seanagh tried her best to restrain a small giggle.

“I’ll see you later” With a smile she spun on her toes and walked over towards the lift with her small group. The sight and sound of Britta clicking her fingers in front of Seb’s face pulled his eyes off his team mate. Britta jerked her head towards the receptionist and Seb finally checked into his room.

_Friday 26 th August – Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps_

“Morning guys!” Seanagh beamed as she walked into her side of the garage, greeting her mechanics that looked more well-rested and happy than they had done since the start of the season. A chorus of ‘good morning’ in varying pitches and tones filled Seanagh’s side of the garage as she tied up her hair and met with her number one mechanic. “Everything good with the car?” Seanagh placed her hands on her hips and looked between her car and her mechanics.

“Yes everything’s fine. Everything good with you?”

“Never better” Seanagh heard laughter at the back of the garage as Maurizio and Seb came into view, clapping his driver on the shoulder. Maurizio headed over to the pit wall while Seanagh excused herself and went over to her team mate. “Hey”

“Hi” Seanagh followed Seb as he went over to his side of the garage and placed his helmet down. “Everything okay?” She hummed in reply and leaned against the back bench as Sebastian sat down. “I hope you didn’t just come over here to say hello” Sebastian looked up at her with his usual cheeky grin, even if Seanagh had only came over to say hello to him he really didn’t seem disappointed about it.

“I just wanted to make sure that we were okay, you know after summer”

“Oh I think we’re definitely okay…” Seb grinned and looked around the garage before quickly standing up. “Between you and me I had a lovely time” He whispered in her ear and kissed Seanagh on the cheek causing her to blush.

When they had returned to Crete after Kimi’s wedding their pair had managed to quietly spend the odd morning run with each other, which had been far more enjoyable than either of them had imagined. It was almost like how things between them used to be, almost. Seanagh and Seb both smiled at each other as their engineers signalled them over.

“See you later” Seanagh smirked as she returned to her side of the garage.

 

“Hey Seanagh!”

“Oh no…” Seanagh muttered under her breath on her way back to the motorhome after speaking to the press pen. Mia came running up behind her which caused Richard to leave the two friends alone, Seanagh silently pleaded with him to stay but he had already marched a few paces away when Mia reached Seanagh’s side. “I’m sorry I went to Kimi’s wedding” She blurted out before Mia could even say hello.

“I was going to say good luck for quali tomorrow… Now I know why you’ve been avoiding me” Mia frowned, because gossip spread in the paddock faster than wildfire everyone found out what everyone had done over summer in the space of a few hours on Thursday morning.

“I didn’t want to ruin your holiday with Nico so I didn’t say, Minttu invited me and I couldn’t exactly say no…” Seanagh tried to defend herself at going to her best friend’s ex-boyfriend’s wedding reception. Mia looked at Seanagh with a frown before shaking her head.

“Whatever… I heard Sebastian was there. Did you see him?” Mia now had the faintest trace of a smirk on her lips.

“Only as we left” Seanagh lied, did Mia really need to know that her and Seb had spent the entire evening in each other’s company and shared a taxi back to their hotel and to the airport the next morning? Probably not. Mia hummed, not quite content with Seanagh’s answer but once she saw Stefania emerge from the Ferrari motorhome, she knew they couldn’t chat any longer. “Good luck for tomorrow” Seanagh smiled as she took a few steps back to the safety of her team.

“Yeah you too” Stefi smiled at the driver as she walked back into the motorhome and practically ran up the stairs to get changed out of her overalls. Only hoping that the rest of her weekend would go smoother than the conversation with her friend.

It didn’t

 

_Sunday 27 th August_

The Belgian Grand Prix was a disaster. Seanagh, Seb and Verstappen had all collided into each other at turn one and from there it was a recovery race for the Ferrari drivers to get a handful of points. Will was again relieved he didn’t follow his sister’s career path. But even then there weren’t that many happy pictures to take today. Given the fact they were going back to the hotel in Seanagh’s rental car she insisted that she drove, but she was unusually silent – not even humming to the songs on the radio.

“I’m really sorry Will” Seanagh spoke as they neared Will’s room, thankfully the corridor they were in was completely deserted apart from them.

“You don’t have to be sorry. It wasn’t your fault”

“No… I mean I’m sorry for letting you and everyone else down” Her voice cracked as she removed her cap and ran a hand through her hair, her eyes looking red and glassy. Will opened the door and pulled his sister inside his room and hugged her before she could start crying.

“You could have finished last and I wouldn’t have cared. Just you wearing that uniform is enough to make me so proud of you every single day. You are the best sister in the world to me, you could never _ever_ let me down” Seanagh just looked at her brother and smiled before kissing his cheek and ruffling his hair. “So stop crying, and pull yourself together for Monza. You and Seb will need to literally carry the team at this rate” Will handed his sister a tissue and watched her dry her eyes and nod reassuringly to her brother.

“You’re right” She sniffled, emotions were always so high in this sport, he certainly didn’t blame her for being upset.

“Just go and sleep it off, okay?” Seanagh nodded with a small sniffle. “I love you sis”

“Love you too baby brother” Will let his older sister ruffle his hair again before she left.

 

The cheer up from Will’s pep talk had lasted until Seanagh got back to her room; as soon as she closed the door she slid down until she was sat on the floor and wrapped her arms around her knees and sat there for a few minutes. It had hurt so much seeing the disappointment on Maurizio’s face knowing there was a chance of having at least one car on the podium before the disaster at turn one. Seanagh let out a long sigh and somehow managed to pull herself up off the floor, deciding to run a bubble bath in the hope that would make Seanagh feel better.

However, someone knocking on the door had other ideas. Seanagh trudged over to the door and opened it, and nearly gasped at the sight of her team mate. Seb was still sporting his heavy stubble, his hair was a tousled mess and he hadn’t even bothered to do up the buttons on his team polo shirt. If Seanagh wasn’t so upset about the race, she would have found him incredibly attractive.

“What do you want?” She almost snapped at Seb who was leaning against the doorframe.

“To apologise” His voice was soft and husky after having to explain himself twenty times over to the press. Seanagh bit down on her lip and let Seb into her room, she stayed by the door while Seb leaned against the back of a chair. “I’m sorry I fucked up your race”

“Well it wasn’t entirely your fault” Seanagh scoffed and crossed her arms. “Why are you telling me now when you could have told me at the track?”

“Because I didn’t want to talk to you at the track” There was a long pause where they were rooted on the spot stealing the odd glance of each other.

“Well, I appreciate your apology” Seanagh let her arms fall to her side and she sighed. “Don’t beat yourself up about it”

“Shit happens right?”

“Something like that” They both gave a small laugh as Seb moved and took a few small steps forward. There was still some kind of strange tension in the room; so, so many things that were still unspoken like a concoction of emotions that were almost at bursting point.

It all happened so fast. Seb closed the distance between them and cupped Seanagh’s face in his hands and kissed her deeply; he pushed her against the wall so she wouldn’t fall and slowly slid his hands down to her waist. Seanagh wrapped her arms around Seb’s neck and ran her hands through his hair and traced the stubble along his jaw with the tips of her fingers.

“Make it stop” Seanagh sighed as Seb started slowly kissing down her neck. “Make it go away” Countless times after a bad race in the past they would go to each other and try and make each other forget about what happened – sometimes taking all night and the morning after if they had to.

“Are you sure?” Seb stopped kissing her, his face just millimetres away from hers. He brushed a few loose strands of hair out of her face and looked right into her eyes. One of Seanagh’s hands began working its way through Seb’s hair again, the other tracing the skin of his partially exposed chest. “We might regret this tomorrow”

“Well right now I don’t care” Seb bit his lower lip and took both of Seanagh’s hands in his and walked backwards towards the bed and sat down. Seanagh stayed stood and slowly and deeply kissed Seb while her hands skimmed down to his waist and pulled his Ferrari shirt over his head. The two team mates smirked before scattering their clothes all across the floor before making each other forget about their horrible race underneath cotton bedsheets.

 

Seb blinked as the morning sunlight soaked through his eyelids causing him to wake. Seanagh was still where she had fallen asleep, draped across Seb’s chest with one of her hands entwined with his. The sight was so similar to their anniversary getaway in Tokyo that all that was needed was a fluffy white robe and breakfast in bed, he had to stop himself from laughing in fear it would wake his sleeping team mate, who for the first time in a while seemed so peaceful as she slept.

Seb felt so relieved. Relieved that he didn’t wake up with regret. After a little while Seanagh began to stir and Seb gently ran the tips of his fingers up and down her spine. He let out a deep breath and even smiled with content, he really didn’t want to leave for the airport in an hour’s time.

 

As Seanagh woke she could feel Seb’s skin against her cheek. The feeling was so warm and comforting; it was almost as if the past two years hadn’t happened at all. She started to smile before the implications of the night before began to sink in very quickly. She squeezed her eyes shut and told her brain to switch off for a second and to just enjoy being back in Seb’s arms again; her brain however had other ideas.

_I wasn’t supposed to fall back in love with you._

“W-what?”

Seanagh jumped out of bed and hurriedly got dressed out of embarrassment and tried not to look at Sebastian, she heard him move and when she turned to grab her watch Seb was stood in his underwear in front of her, he eyes pleading with her to stop. Her big mouth had ended up saying what was supposed to be a quiet thought that was meant to stay in her head.

“Please… Don’t make this any harder Sebastian” He tilted his head to the side and held one of her hands in his. Oh how Seanagh had missed waking up next to Sebastian in the morning, seeing his lazy smile and his bright blue eyes looking at her with so much love. Seanagh swallowed hard and tried to shake the old memories of their relationship out of her head.

She could tell that Seb wanted another kiss, another night like the one before. And while maybe, deep down, a part of her wanted that she knew that she just couldn’t. They were supposed to be putting the team first. Oh but his eyes, his stunning eyes that were pleading with Seanagh’s heart to let him stay.

“One more” Seanagh squeezed Sebastian’s hand and watched him frown. “One more kiss and then this nev-” Seb quickly took his chance and pulled Seanagh in towards him. The kiss was soft, but deep as he ran one hand through Seanagh’s soft brown hair, while the other stayed held with their fingers locked together. After a minute or so he pulled away, and with a small frown he silently got dressed and left without looking back.


	19. Confessions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> That's what friends are for

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bit of a dialogue heavy filler chapter

_Wednesday 31 st August – Monza_

Seanagh rapidly knocked on the door and looked around in a slight panic. She was just going to see Mia but if a certain someone appeared she’d probably run a mile. The door to Mia’s room opened and the Scot looked very surprised to be seeing her friend in full team gear. Seanagh had just managed to get through the sponsor event with Sebastian without freaking out or worse – kissing him in front of everyone.

“Can we talk?” Seanagh asked, sounding almost desperate.

“Come in” Mia opened the door wide and frowned as her friend made a bee line for the bed and flopped down onto her back with a loud groan. She shut the door and sat down next to her friend and patted her shoulder. “What happened?” Seanagh groaned again and brought her hands to her face.

“It’s bad…”

“Whatever it is you can tell me” Mia was Seanagh’s best friend, she hoped she wouldn’t judge. Seanagh took in a deep breath and kept her eyes fixed on the ceiling.

“I slept with Seb”

“You did _what_?!” Mia sprung up off the bed and looked at her friend in shock.

“Oh I knew you’d shout at me…” Seanagh rolled onto her front and buried her face in her hands. Mia sighed and sat back down on her bed and looked at her slightly distraught friend. Just then Nico came in and looked surprised to see the Ferrari driver in his girlfriend’s hotel room in such a state.

“Out!” Mia stood up and pushed her boyfriend towards the door.

“But…”

“Girl trouble that is none of your damn business” Mia opened the door and watched Nico walk out of it. “I’ll text you later” She closed the door and placed to do not disturb sign on the handle and lay next to her friend on the bed and patted Seanagh’s arm. “Are you okay?”

“No…” The pair sat in silence for a while, mainly allowing Seanagh to compose herself a bit before Mia tried to coax the truth out of her friend. “Mia what on earth am I supposed to do?”

“If you don’t mind me asking…”

“Belgium, after the race” Seanagh sighed and kept her eyes fixed above her. “I just… I don’t know how I really feel about him” Mia raised an eyebrow and turned to look at the Ferrari driver.

“Well you must have liked him enough to sleep with him”

“No but…” Seanagh paused; she thought about Seb’s eyes, about how gorgeous she found them and how they always seemed to light up around her, she thought about his warm smile and bright laugh, she thought about the way he kissed her, she thought about Belgium, she thought about how she hated herself for making him leave. “When I’m with him, I’m happy” Seanagh sighed. If only life could be so easy. “But we’re team mates…”

“So” Mia shrugged.

“I know everyone in the paddock looks at us when we’re together; I’ve heard some of the other drivers joking that we’re probably sleeping together. I just don’t want people to think any less of him, and besides… the team wouldn’t approve”

“What do you mean the team wouldn’t approve?” Mia sat up and looked at Seanagh with a raised eyebrow. “Isn’t Maurizio married to Stefania from PR?”

“Well yeah…” Seanagh huffed; Formula 1 was always so hypocritical. “They were married long before Maurizio joined the team, but Seb and me are the drivers, and everyone’s going to be looking to us for the whole weekend and I think that I might even love him and-” Mia’s quiet gasp was enough for Seanagh to silence yourself.

“Oh my god you need to tell him”

“No, no I absolutely can’t” Seanagh sat up and got off the bed and started pacing. “I can’t just go up to him on Friday before first practice, ‘Hi Seb, sorry to bother you but I didn’t mean to kick you out my room in Belgium. And by the way I think I’m in love with you’. I mean… it’s Ferrari’s home race Mia, Seb and me are under enough pressure as it is; the car’s not the best, Red Bull are probably going to be much faster than us by the end of the year… I’m so confused” Seanagh stopped pacing and leaned against the wall with her head in her hands.

“You… you really need to tell him, after the race. Otherwise I think you might say something at the wrong time”

“That’s what I’m afraid of… Mia can I tell you something?” Mia held up her hand and reached for the phone on the bedside table.

“If it’s like what you’ve told me already I think we need to order some room service” Seanagh sighed with relief and let Mia order their dinner. “They reckon it’ll be ten minutes. So” Mia crossed her leg and patted the spot next to her on the bed. “What else have you been keeping from me?” Seanagh sat down and took in a long breath.

“I want to tell you how things ended between me and Sebastian”

 

“Wait…” Mia put down her fork and frowned at Seanagh over her plate. They had sat themselves at a small table that was by one of the hotel room’s tall windows overlooking the city. “He came to your room, said he wanted to break up with you because he was going to Ferrari and just left right after?”

“Yeah”

“Wow” Mia leaned back in her chair and frowned at her near empty plate.

“It was a clean break I guess. He didn’t speak to me again until testing in March” Mia looked at Seanagh in surprise. “To apologise of all things, he said I deserved better” Seanagh could still recall that conversation they had as clear as day, and every conversation they had after.

“Too right you did” Mia scoffed and folded her arms. “So what changed?”

“Hmm?”

“It must have taken a lot for you to like him again”

“I don’t know… we talked things over at the start of the year. You know to put things behind us for the sake of the team, but…” Mia leaned forward silently edging her friend on. “ _He_ had changed. He just seemed different you know, more mature... Still an annoying flirt though”

“I think Seb is always going to be a flirt” Both Seanagh and Mia laughed and they finally resumed eating their dinner. “To give him some credit though, he was very noble in Barcelona. And he did defend you tooth and nail in Austria” Seanagh gave a small smile; she wouldn’t forget either of those days in a hurry either. “Anything else about the hot mess that is you and Seb I need to know about?”

“No that just about covers it” Seanagh gave a dry laugh and quickly finished off her dinner. “Thanks for this”

“No problem, it sounds like we should have done this sooner”

“Yeah, maybe…” Seanagh stacked their plates on the table and Mia slowly walked her to the door. “Sorry you had to kick out Nico”

“Oh he’ll be fine, don’t worry about it” Mia shrugged and pulled Seanagh into a well needed hug. “Good luck this weekend, I hope you have a good race this time”

“I’m more concerned about the Tifosi…”

“Well you have won a race so I think that’s a pretty good start” Mia opened the door and Seanagh took a step out into the corridor. “See you tomorrow”

“Goodnight Mia” Seanagh walked towards the lift with a sigh, feeling miles better to get everything off her chest (with the exception of Kimi’s wedding, Seanagh would always want to keep that night between her and Seb). She pushed the button for the lift to go back to her room and get an early night. When the doors opened Sebastian stepped out alone, the two team mates looked at each other awkwardly. They didn’t say anything when Seanagh stepped into the lift.

“Hey!” Seanagh stood in the lift doors so they wouldn’t close, Seb slowly turned round with a sigh. “We can be civil this weekend, can’t we?”

“I guess” Seb shrugged and Seanagh stepped back into the lift.

“See you tomorrow” She just about managed a smile.

“See you” Seb replied as the lift doors closed. Seanagh had quickly resigned to the fact that Mia was right, her and Seb really did need to have some kind of talk about what happened in Belgium and everything else to do with it. But not now, not when they had the most important race of the year to get through in one piece first.


	20. Red, White and Green

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There's nothing quite like Monza

_Thursday 1 st September – Autodromo Nazionale di Monza_

It was just past nine in the morning when Seanagh had arrived at the circuit – a little earlier than normal to get through the traffic and the Tifosi. She had snuck out of the motorhome for a quick walk on the old banking behind the trees at parabolica. She walked along the edge of the banking, looking between it and the trees when she saw a familiar face sat all by himself.

“Jenson?” A smile cracked onto his face when he saw her, and he stood up and walked over, pulling Seanagh into a friendly hug.

“How’s it going buddy?”

“Well I’ve had worse seasons, I’m surprised to see you here” He never really arrived at a track until the late morning at the European races, with the exception of Silverstone and Monaco of course. And while Seanagh hadn’t properly spent time with him for months now, she still found it odd.

“Yeah I uh… needed a quiet space to think out a few things. But you’re welcome to join me” They both sat down where Jenson had been sat – roughly a third of the way up the banking – and quietly admired the view. “So how’s life in red?” Seanagh let out a nervous laugh and sighed.

“It’s… not what I expected. It a lot different from McLaren that’s for sure”

“Just about everyone misses you. I think even Ron does sometimes” Seanagh shook her head in disbelief with a shy smile. “And I still miss you too”

“I know you do, it’s not like you’ve told me every other race” Seanagh sighed, it had been so strange at the start of the year to look over and see Sebastian on the other side of the garage instead of Jenson.

“I um… I need to tell you something actually” Jenson was wringing his hands together and staring down at his feet, hardly looking at his former team mate.

“Oh”

“I’m… I’m taking a sabbatical next year” Seanagh’s jaw dropped and her eyes widened slightly. “I just… need a break from everything. I’ve been doing this for almost seventeen years, you know I want to do other things, spend time with my family…”

“And your girlfriend too I guess” Seanagh had briefly met her in Australia, she seemed lovely and Jenson came across as being really happy.

“Yeah that too… It’s gonna be weird though, not having you and Fernando bothering me every weekend” Seanagh giggled and wiped away a stray tear from her cheek. “Oh come on you’re not actually crying over me are you?”

“Oh hush!” Seanagh lightly slapped Jenson’s arm before they stood up and hugged. “I’ll miss you. You’ve always had my back; even now… will you be at any of the races?” Jenson was probably Seanagh’s best mate in the paddock after Mia, and Seb too probably.

“Yeah, if all goes to plan I’ll be reserve driver next year, still loosely working with the team just… having my own life too” A small smile appeared on Jenson’s face, it looked as if a huge weight had been lifted from his shoulders. “Speaking of which I need to go and speak to Ron about it, can you keep this quiet?”

“I won’t tell a soul Jense”

“Thank you. Good luck this weekend” He leaned down and softly kissed Seanagh’s cheek before walking back towards the paddock. Seanagh sat back down on the ground for a few minutes and pondered what Jenson had said to her, it seemed like he finally had the life plan after F1 that he had always wanted. She was about to get up and leave when Sebastian and some of his mechanics appeared.

Seanagh was very much intending on leaving, after all her and Seb hadn’t exactly cleared the air about what happened in Belgium mainly because they had solely discussed racing for the past four days. Not even a week had passed since they had spent that night together and she couldn’t even look at her team mate without being reminded of it.

“Come on you have to see the view from up here!” Seb followed one of his mechanics up the banking and took a seat at the very top.

“Come on piccolina, you won’t want to miss this” Riccardo held out one of his hands. Seanagh couldn’t find it in her to let him down so she took his hand and slowly climbing the banking and sat down next to Seb keeping a very reasonable gap between them.

“Wow” Seanagh looked in wonder at the sight in front of her. They were perched at just the right point so they could see parabolica in front of them with the start finish straight and the main grandstand to their left. It was breath taking, she had been at Monza so many times before but she had never been in such awe of it before, it was almost as if she was seeing it for the first time again. Maybe that feeling had something to do with the badge on her chest.

“It is so much better when the grandstands are filled with red” Seanagh took in a nervous breath; she was terrified at how the famous Tifosi were going to greet her, the only indication Seanagh had was when she arrived at the track, the fans that had gathered at the paddock entrance had erupted into loud cheers the second they saw her. “Don’t worry, they will love you”

“Half of the caps I’ve seen today are yours” Sebastian spoke without looking at her.

“R-really?!”

“We should be getting back. Maurizio will be wondering where we are” The quartet managed to walk back down the steep banking without too much trouble and headed back towards the paddock, with the two team mates only managing the briefest of glances at each other.

 

“So she doesn’t know you are here?” Norbert asked Mark looking incredibly confused. The pair had somehow managed to sit at the last spare table, as expected the Ferrari motorhome was bustling with far more people than usual.

“No, the lads at work thought it would be better if it was a surprise” Norbert shrugged, passing it off as a British thing he probably didn’t quite understand. Not long after their two children walked back into the Ferrari motorhome after the driver’s press conference, and Seanagh spotted her father from almost a mile away.

“Dad!!” She shouted and ran through the gaggle of people and wrapped her arms tightly around him knocking the cap off her head. “What are you doing here? I thought you were tied up at work for the rest of the year?”

“Well the lads talked me into going, and they wanted it to be a surprise just so I could see the smile on your face” His daughter was grinning from ear to ear as expected, looking almost radiant from happiness.

“I think you dropped this”

“Oh gosh my cap! Thank you Mr Vettel” Seanagh took her cap from Norbert’s hands and politely smiled at him, she looked over her shoulder to see Richard tapping his watch. “I really need to go Dad, I’m so busy today”

“That’s alright darling you go, I’m sure Norbert and myself have a lot of stuff to talk about anyway” Seanagh went on her tiptoes to kiss his cheek and politely smiled at Norbert before running off to Richard who escorted her out of the building for the rest of her busy press schedule.

“Kids” Norbert sat down gesturing for Mark to join him. “They still grow up but they never quite change”

“How many did you say you have?”

“Four; two girls and two boys. Including Sebastian of course”

“I wouldn’t have wanted to be in that house” Given how busy his and Mary’s lives were with Seanagh when Will arrived it was a miracle that both of their children had turned out alright. Any more children and their either would have been a riot or another go kart. Mark shuddered at the thought. “But no regrets though?”

“None. I’d do it all again, I’m sure you would too”

“I would, even Seanagh’s karting” There were days that Mark was convinced some of Seanagh’s racing luck was karma from her very early karting days, from the outset young boys who always told his daughter that no matter how hard she tried she would never make it out of karts and into Formula One just because she was a girl. He always had to pinch himself whenever Seanagh called home from each race weekend.

“It must have been tough. A young girl racing with all the boys”

“Yes, I don’t know how she managed. Then again her mother is something else so…” Mark grinned and took a long glug of the coffee that he had previously abandoned on the table. “She turned out fine, her brother too”

“Funny how things worked out though, Sebastian and Seanagh. At the same team” Mark found himself thinking about that a lot. He just shook his head and sighed.

“Well from the outside they seem to be managing fine”

“They have too really, otherwise…” Norbert paused and exhaled slowly giving his head a small shake.

“Yeah, I think I know what you mean”

 

Seanagh let out a shaky breath as Britta and Seb led the way towards the driver’s signing, as the two Ferrari drivers came into view that gathered crowd erupted into cheers with the occasional few setting off air klaxons. Nearly the whole crowd was dressed in red, with many waving Italian and Ferrari flags high in the warm air. One girl who couldn’t have been younger than sixteen was stood with her family at the front of the queue, she had a small Ferrari shield painted onto the side of her face almost looked as if she was about to cry from sheer joy.

As Seanagh and Seb sat down and Richard and Britta stood beside their drivers the fans rushed forward to meet the drivers. Seanagh smiled at the teenage girl who tearfully handed over a replica driver cap to get signed, Seanagh placed her autograph on the peak next to the number sixteen and handed the cap over with a bright smile.

“Can I get a picture?” The girl held out a phone with a red Ferrari branded phone case.

“Of course” Richard took the girl’s phone and waited for Seanagh to put an arm around her, he took a few pictures to make sure there would be at least one good one before handing the phone back.

“Grazie piccolina” It didn’t take long at the start of the year for the Italians to pick up on the nickname Ferrari had given her. “It is such an honour to have you driving our cars, my father says you will be champion with us one day” The girl’s father was stood opposite Seb getting his picture taken. Seanagh blushed with a small smile.

“That’s… I can only hope so” Champion with Ferrari. Now that would be something.

“No, no you will” The father looked at both drivers rather proudly. “You will both be champions for Ferrari, mark my words” One of the stewards led the family away for the next fans to come through.

After nearly two hours of signing caps, shirts (one man even wanted Seanagh to sign his shoulder) Britta and Richard led their drivers back into the calm of the Ferrari motorhome. Seanagh and Richard let out an exhausted sigh while Britta and Seb just smiled.

“So that’s what the Tifosi are really like. I think I need a lie down” Britta led Richard away towards the comms office leaving the two drivers alone.

“Told you they’d love you” Seanagh was feeling almost overwhelmed at just how the fans had taken to her. “See you in the engineers meeting” Seb clapped Seanagh on the shoulder and jogged upstairs leaving his team mate by himself.

“Penny for your thoughts” Seanagh yelped at the sound of someone placing a gentle hand on her shoulder and sighed at the sight of her father.

“You gave me a fright Dad!” She nearly glared at him, clearly not appreciating being snuck up on in the middle of the motorhome.

“Sorry love, I just wanted to ask how the signing went” They walked over to one of the smaller tables and sat down. “The Tifosi were nice to you weren’t they?”

“They were something else to be honest” Seanagh looked down at the Ferrari logo on her shirt, there were times when she wondered just how worthy she was of wearing it when the fans seemed to have confirmed that for her. She looked up at Mark who was looking at her with a proud smile; Mark gently patted one of Seanagh’s hands.

“My little girl adored by the Tifosi, who’d have thought it”

“Dad…”

“I mean it; you had an incredible race in Barcelona, and at Silverstone, if anyone doubted you before I don’t think they will anymore” Seanagh blushed and looked down; she knew that her family were proud of her and always would be, but all the praise was proving to be almost too much.

“So was Seb’s Dad saying much?” Seanagh changed the subject with a small shrug.

“Not really just asking how everything was going. Smalltalk really, he is a very nice guy though”

“Yeah he seems to be” Despite seeing Sebastian’s family in Germany she hadn’t exactly had a proper conversation with them. But they appeared to be nice enough.

“Don’t worry love the Ferrari Dad Squad will be cheering you and Seb on this weekend” Seanagh chuckled and shook her head at her father, who had obviously been spending far too much time with her brother.

“Glad to hear it” Speaking of Seb he re-appeared from his driver room with his Dad and the pair of them walked down the stairs.

“Everything good between you two after Belgium then?” Mark tilted his head towards Sebastian.

“What?!” Seanagh looked at her father in horror.

“You know… after the incident at the start” Seanagh breathed a long sigh of relief. Of course her Dad wouldn’t know about what else had happened in Spa, and he certainly wasn’t going to.

“Oh um… we’re fine” Seanagh stood up from her seat as Norbert came over.

“Do you mind if I keep you company while they’re at the meeting”

“Not at all, see you sweetheart” Seanagh smiled at her Dad as she walked into the engineer’s office and took the seat opposite her team mate. Once the meeting ended an hour later she couldn’t help herself and looked over her shoulder at Sebastian as she left before heading back towards her father.

 

It was later than planned when Seb left the circuit driving himself and his Dad back to the hotel. Luckily the drive was relatively short and the traffic had semi-diluted so it wouldn’t be too long before they were going to be having dinner and talking about the weekend ahead.

“Seanagh seems like a really lovely girl, very charming” Norbert spoke with a small smile as he admired the view out of the window.

“I’m glad you think so” Seb tightened his grip on the steering wheel and bit his lower lip. “Were you alright with her Dad today?”

“Yes we talked a lot about you two” Seb kept his eyes on the road not trying to react too much, already knowing his actions were reaction enough. “Why was it we never had met Seanagh before?”

“I guess we… ran out of time” Seb shrugged and ran a hand through his hair. “But I mean everything is fine now so…”

“Judging by the way you are acting it doesn’t seem to be that way” Seb sighed. They had now reached the hotel and it seemed Seb already wanted to be back at the track in his car away from everything.

“What do you want me say, that I find it strange? Because I do! But we both have to get on with it because these are our jobs and we need to put the team first. I don’t want to get in that way of that and neither does she” Norbert just nodded and placed a hand on his son’s arm. Seb took in a deep breath and pinched the bridge of his nose to try and calm himself down. He couldn’t stop thinking about Belgium, that night and the morning after was quite happy to embed itself into Sebastian’s memory.

“I’m sorry for bringing it up, just focus on the racing this weekend alright?”

“Okay” Seb nodded and finally undid his seatbelt, following his Dad out of the car and into the hotel restaurant heading straight for the buffet.

 

_Friday 2 nd September _

“Is it here yet?” Seanagh asked one of her mechanics who just shook his head, just then Richard jogged into the garage carrying a helmet bag. “Thank goodness”

“The spares have arrived as well, Ness is looking over them now to make sure they’re all fine” Seanagh opened the bag and carefully pulled out her one-off helmet design change for Ferrari’s home race.

“It’s perfect” Seanagh sighed with relief and went to Seb’s side of the garage where their fathers were chatting away over something. “My helmet’s here at last” Her Dad smiled while Seanagh talked him and Norbert through the design: the orange and silver stripes had been swapped to green and a chrome red, with the number sixteen on the top was now a bright azure blue and the Ferrari shield at the back of the helmet sat in the middle of the Italian flag.

“It looks very nice” Norbert smiled politely whilst admiring the details.

“You best get going love you’ve got ten minutes. Good luck”

“Thanks Dad, hopefully you both enjoy the session” Seanagh went back to her side of the garage and gave as much time as was allowed to show her mechanics the one off design change before getting strapped into the car.

 

When the two scarlet and white Ferrari’s went onto the track for their installation laps the grandstands erupted into an almighty roar that was easily heard above the sound of the engines. Both Seanagh and Seb grinned at the Italian and Ferrari flags that adorned each and every grandstand with the occasional banners with their own flags and racing numbers in between. It was a sight that could have easily taken anyone’s breath away.

Mark let out a slow whistle as Sebastian followed his daughter through parabolica and back into the pits. They both gave a small wave to the crowd before they were pushed back into the garage for their preliminary checks on the cars.

“I’d never imagine an install lap could ever give me goose bumps” Mark spoke as he pushed his headset so it was hanging round his neck. Norbert smirked as he put his phone back inside his pocket.

“Yes the tifosi… they are something else”

“It must have been manic last year, when Sebastian got second I mean” Again Norbert smiled and looked out at his son’s car. The proud look on his face that more than matched Mark’s said just about everything.

 

_Saturday 3 rd September_

“Well of course I’m delighted. To be fourth in front of the Tifosi given the deficit to Mercedes, is really good. And we seem to be on a really good strategy for tomorrow so… I’m gonna try and not rule anything out. Hopefully one of us will be on the podium this time” Seanagh had annoyingly been caught by a lone journalist on her way to the engineers debrief.

When she walked in the room was filled with some very relieved faces, Seb was the first to jump up and greet her. So far they had managed to be professional with each other without too much trouble, despite Belgium still springing to mind the second she saw him.

“Good job” They shook hands and awkwardly smiled at each other before sitting down and waiting for someone to say the opening words.

 

Sebastian yawned when he returned to the hotel with his Dad, Seanagh and Mark weren’t that far behind and they ended up walking to the lifts together.

“I think the pair of you need your beds” Mark stated as he pressed the button for the lift, his arm round his daughter’s shoulders.

“Yes, you both have had a very busy day. You should rest for tomorrow” Norbert gave Seb’s shoulder a gentle squeeze.

“That is exactly what I intend to do” Seanagh had been dreaming about her king sized bed ever since her post qualifying duties had finished. Given the slightly late hotel arrangements Seanagh and Seb were staying on a different floor to Mark and Norbert. The two mean mates wished their fathers goodnight and slowly walked down the corridor to their rooms. “What a day huh?”

“What a weekend” Sebastian replied with a small smile.

“I know it was going to be a bit mad this weekend but…” Seanagh’s trailed off with a sigh not really finding the words to say.

“Don’t worry I know exactly what you mean” Seb smiled before stopping outside his door, looking at his team mate like he never wanted her to leave. “Best of luck tomorrow”

“You too” Seanagh turned round and slowly walked back to her room alone.

 

_Sunday 4 th September – Italian Grand Prix_

“Do you ever wonder if it would have been better to not let Seanagh race?” Mark took a long time thinking over what Norbert had asked. There was no doubt at what Seanagh had achieved so far in her career, but a lot of the time it came at personal sacrifice.

“The thought had crossed my mind when she first moved into single seaters. She was fifteen, you know. She was so _young_. And… the name calling from the other drivers and the way they treated her almost like a second class citizen…” Mark had to force himself to pause and take a breath so he didn’t start getting upset as he had done in the past. “But then I see what she’s done, winning races, getting podiums, and driving for Ferrari… I know it sounds silly but when you tell people just which team your daughter drivers for, it really makes it all worthwhile sometimes” They watched as Seb and Seanagh left the drivers parade truck and headed to greet the fans at parabolica before walking back onto the circuit.

“I feel the same with Seb. There was a long time when he drove for Red Bull that we barely saw him” Mark hummed, knowing that feeling rather well. “But he’s so happy you know, if we aren’t here he calls home when he can before the race. And we all wish him luck, a lot of the time my wife has had to call him after the races to cheer him up but… I see him, and he tells me how happy he his and it makes our family feel a lot better” They watched the FOM feed on one of the TV screens as Seb gave an interview and Seanagh pushed him out of the way of the oncoming safety car that he hadn’t even noticed. The two shared a bright smile before going back to what they were doing previously. “Did you ever know, about those two?”

“Yeah, did you?”

“Yes, he told us after the Indian Grand Prix” Mark let out a long sigh and shook his head. “When did she tell you?”

“About a couple of months after that. He just turned up one day on New Year’s Eve actually, Seanagh waited until we were home before mentioning it” Mark certainly wouldn’t be forgetting that evening in a hurry. It wasn’t everyday a four time world champion appeared out of nowhere kissing your daughter in the middle of Princes Street.

“You were surprised?” Norbert must have been able to tell by the exasperated look on Mark’s face.

“We were all very surprised, mainly at Seanagh waiting so long to tell us. She’s never usually like that, but she thought that we would all be mad at her for seeing another driver so she wanted to keep it secret” Norbert nodded, and gently patted Mark’s shoulder. “I know this might sound odd but…”

“How on earth did they get together in the first place?” The two fathers shared a knowing grin before laughing. “It’s just that they both seem so different”

“Not to mention that Seanagh had just broken up with her fiancé at the start of that year” Mark hummed and shook his head, Norbert looked at him as if he had just said something completely obscene. “I shouldn’t have said that…” He cursed mentally, before quickly apologising. “Could you please…”

“I promise I won’t say anything, but can I ask. Does Sebastian know?” They paused and looked as Seanagh and Sebastian returned from the driver’s parade jointly laughing over something before heading upstairs to their driver rooms.

“Yes, he knows”

 

“Well thank you for pushing me out the way, you’re my hero” Seb grinned while Seanagh rolled her eyes with a small laugh. It felt so nice to just talk to him let alone share a joke or two.

“I wouldn’t have needed to if you weren’t so busy babbling to notice the safety car coming right for you” They had been doing their interviews at the edge of the track but Seb being Seb was rambling and didn’t notice when he took a few steps back. The pair stopped when they were outside their driver rooms. “Good luck today” Seanagh extended her hand.

“You too” Seb shook it, and they both strongly resisted the urge to hug each other as they usually did before diving into their rooms to get changed for the race.

 

When the race finally got underway there was a huge roar from the crowd as Sebastian and Seanagh went into first and second at the start. Mark and Norbert knew it wasn’t going to last since the Ferraris had started on the softer tyre but they cheered and hugged each other in excitement none the less at seeing their children lead the race.

“Wunderbar!”

“Go on, that’s my girl!” Their joy was only beaten by that of the Tifosi, who were all on their feet in the grandstands cheering on their drivers. After the first round of stops Seb and Seanagh were third and fourth as expected.

Almost nothing much happened during the race and the top four stayed as it was, with Sebastian on the podium in third and Seanagh coming home a solid fourth place. Mark and Norbert congratulated each other on a good result, both welling up with tears of pride. “Not too bad then?”

“No, no. Very good indeed” After Belgium Seanagh and Sebastian needed the good result heading into Singapore. Mark stood with Norbert and Sebastian’s mechanics in parc ferme to watch the podium ceremony and gave a polite cheer when he was interviewed and given his trophy. Sebastian wasn’t a bad guy at all Mark had learned so far this year, but even then he still wasn’t completely enamoured with him and Seanagh working in such close proximity.

He couldn’t bear the thought of Sebastian breaking his daughter’s heart again.


	21. It's Complicated

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Is anything ever straight forward?

_Monday 5 th September – Maranello_

_‘That you and I could learn to love again, After all this time, Maybe that is how I knew you were the one. That you could still believe in me again, And after all our trials, Maybe that is how I knew you were the one…’_

“Ugh” Seanagh scoffed as she switched off the radio; thankfully she had just arrived at the factory and bothered herself with finding her parking space instead of over analysing song lyrics.

“I thought you liked that band?” Richard asked as he undid his seat belt. Seanagh said nothing and turned off the ignition after parking the car. She opened the door and stepped out into light rain; luckily she had remembered her team umbrella and walked with Richard under its shelter to the factory entrance.

They passed Seb’s parking space that was currently empty meaning that he obviously hadn’t made it in yet, or so she thought. When Seanagh walked in through the revolving door, passing under the lone Ferrari flag, she saw him stood in reception apparently waiting on their arrival. Richard had ran off towards PR claiming he was late for something leaving Seanagh alone with Sebastian.

“Morning”

“Hey. Your car wasn’t in its spot” Seanagh remarked as she fiddled with the bag strap on her shoulder.

“Oh I came in with Britta, she had to be in early for some meeting” Seanagh nodded and proceeded to walk to the staff locker room to leave her jacket and damp umbrella.

“You got in alright then?”

“Yeah we arrived just a few minutes ago. Maurizio saw you coming and told me to wait” Again Seanagh just nodded, rueing not having some kind of caffeinated drink with her breakfast at the hotel. “And that he managed to get some cups of tea onto the coffee tray”

“Oh good” Seanagh walked into the locker room and hung up her things before walking with Seb up the stairs to the main boardroom. “I was thinking of hanging around for a little while after the debrief, maybe go and see how the aerodynamicists are doing with the 2017 stuff”

“Mind if I tag along?” Seanagh paused before she answered, trying to decide if she wanted some company.

“Yeah sure why not”

 

Their trip to the aerodynamicists turned into having lunch together and hanging around the wind tunnel in the afternoon, with a very brief visit to see the cars get unloaded and dismantled by the mechanics, and before either of them realised it was just after four pm. As they walked through the factory Seanagh sighed, she had wanted to speak to Seb in private, but had no idea how to ask.

“You okay?” Seb’s hands were firmly in the pockets of his jeans as looked over at his team mate with a small smile.

“Um…” Seanagh paused and looked around them, there weren’t too many people going about, none that would overhear what would be said anyway. “Is there somewhere we can talk, in private?” Seb looked to the floor, his mind whirring trying to remember where the quiet spots in the factory were.

“Come with me” Seanagh followed Sebastian up the stairs and along the corridor to where the team had their meeting that morning. “Nobody uses these at this time” Thankfully the door was open and Seb let Seanagh in first. She quickly walked into the large white room and Seb followed quietly shutting the door behind him. “Well?” Seb stood leaning against the wall with his arms folded, Seanagh was half the room away leaning against the back of one of the chairs.

“I want to talk about Belgium” She took a quick glance at the black chairs and grand wooden table before speaking.

“I thought we’d already discussed the start”

“Not the start Seb” Seanagh replied sternly, Seb’s face fell and his eyes became very focused on his shoelaces. The air in the room stiffened with silence, Seanagh knew that telling the truth would start a whole host of inconveniences, but she also knew that lying would probably break Seb’s heart and that was the last thing she wanted to do. “I meant afterwards when we-”

“I know” Seb looked out the window and bit his lip. “When we thought it was 2014 again” He spoke with a small hint of sadness in his voice as he kept his eyes fixed on the floor. “Be honest with me” Seanagh pulled herself to look at Seb who was now rubbing the back of his neck. “Did you feel anything?”

“Yes” She replied instantly, it seemed telling the truth was really her only option. “Did you?”

“Yeah” Seb pushed himself off the wall and walked towards the end of the table. Seanagh let out a shaky sigh and started tapping her fingers against her leg, after a while she cursed under her breath and shook her head.

“How on earth are we supposed to work together like this?”

“What do you mean?” All the tension, the words that still remained unspoken, the times when one would look longingly at the other without them knowing, how they felt the need to put the team first even though it was driving them both mad.

“I mean, how can we be good team mates when there’s clearly so much going on between us?”

“Honestly I really don’t know” Seb shook his head and leaned against the table. Silence befell the room again for a few minutes; both of them trying to think of something to say and both coming up with nothing. “I guess we just… move on”

“What just pretend it didn’t happen?” Seanagh didn’t want to do that, granted she still wasn’t entirely sure what she wanted but definitely not that.

“Not pretend but… acknowledge that it happened but move on and try our best to be professional” Seanagh almost scoffed, she had tried to be professional up until Belgium and she wasn’t exactly pleased with where it had put her.

“I guess the other option would put us in too much hot water”

“Only if we got caught” Seanagh shook her head, dating Seb again whilst they were team mates? People would figure it out in a week.

She looked around the boardroom that she had been sat in that morning, and many mornings before that. As strange as it was Ferrari was really starting to feel like home to her. Seanagh had a wonderful rapport with her mechanics and engineers, her family were allowed to come to as many races as they wanted and were always given pride of place in the garage, and of course there was the singular Ferrari flag above the factory door that wouldn’t have been there without her.

She quickly glanced over at Seb, who had returned to looking at his shoes, and looked down at the mahogany table and brushed across the wood with her thumb.

“I don’t want to lose this” The words came out with a loud sob. “But I don’t want to lose you either” Seanagh looked over at her team mate hoping to get some kind of reaction from him, with a  shake of his head Sebastian left his spot and slowly walked over towards his team mate and pulled her into a tight hug. He had been so open and honest with her the past few weeks, Seanagh felt it was about time she offered him the same curtesy. “I’m scared Seb”

“Scared of what?” He asked softy, taking a couple of small steps back to give Seanagh some breathing room. She placed her hands on his chest to steady herself.

“Of losing everything. I know Marchionne doesn’t like me” The CEO would always speak to Seanagh with a tinge of frostiness in his voice and never held a conversation with her longer than he needed to. “And he has so much leverage that I don’t and… if he caught wind of us then I’d be finished, out the door with a very nice pay packet to keep quiet and I’d never get to see you again” Seanagh sobbed again. Ferrari had been so good to her, they’d given her a second chance when no other team did, she didn’t want to throw that away.

“Come here” Sebastian hugged Seanagh again as tightly as he could and kissed the top of her head. Seb had always been so kind, playing the supportive team mate role whenever he needed to, always saying such good things about her to the press, being a gentleman while still being his usual cheeky self that more often than not made her smile and laugh without hesitation. Despite their previous personal dramas things between them had been so good up until now; they were friends that always had the others back. Seanagh really didn’t want to let go of that, it felt so precious.

“I just want to settle into this team but… I have all these feelings and they’re making me so confused and…” Seanagh trailed off, not really knowing just what to say anymore and she just buried her head into Seb’s chest and let him hug her tightly.

“We can still be friends can’t we?” Sebastian asked after a silent few minutes.

“Friends” Seanagh repeated the word to herself, it maybe didn’t reflect how she truly felt but it would do. For now. “Of course we can still be friends” The pair leaned out the hug and Seanagh wiped away her tears with her sleeve.

“Then maybe when the season’s over and we have time we can talk… about the other stuff. When you’re settled” The team was now heading straight into the manic Asian leg of the season before back to back races in Austin and Mexico, which would be very swiftly followed by Brazil and Abu Dhabi; it added up to seven races all in the span of just eleven weeks. It was a wonder that anyone in the paddock had time to breathe and sleep during the second half of the season let alone do much else.

“We can be professional in the meantime, can’t we?” Seanagh wasn’t entirely confident of the prospect but it really was the best that they could come up with for now.

“If we’re going to try we might as well shake on it” Seanagh shook Seb’s hand firmly. Their gazes were locked onto each other, deep down they were wondering how long this agreement would last. Once they were both happy to some degree they went to the locker room to pick up their things and stopped by the PR office where they ran into a frantic looking Martina.

“Oh there you are Seb, Britta left half an hour ago with Richard. She wanted to find you to say but…”

“…she had to catch her flight to Germany, I know” In the week off they had between Italy and Singapore Britta had taken some time off to see her family like so many others.

“If you want I can book you a taxi or…”

“Oh don’t worry Martina I can drive Seb back, if that’s alright with you?” Seanagh looked at Seb tentatively who gave a small nod.

“Yeah… that’ll be fine thank you” Martina, now looking very relieved, wished them a safe journey and dived back into the PR office. The two team mates walked through the post-rain muggy air into the car park and over to Seanagh’s parking space where her company car had taken pride of place. “Oh so you went for the California T” Seanagh smiled as she unlocked the car and waited for Seb to get in. “I have a Jeep back in Switzerland” Seanagh hummed as she started the car and drove out of the car park and along the main road.

“So where are you staying?” Seb recited the hotel’s address, which happened to be a few minutes away from where Seanagh was staying. “Makes a nice change to not be at the same hotel” They both chuckled as Seanagh pulled to a stop in front of the hotel’s entrance. “I’ll see you in a couple of days then for the sim prep”

“Yeah I’m heading home for a little bit”

“Home, as in Heppenheim?”

“Yeah, I promised Fabian I’d visit before the flyaways”

“Ah well, have a nice trip. I’ll see you around”

“See you” Seb smiled and went to close the door but he stopped himself. “Thanks for the lift”

“You’re welcome Seb” He closed the car door and took a few steps back and watched as Seanagh drove off. Sebastian watched the car for a second before walking into the hotel already starting to wish the season away.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The lyrics at the start are from from this song (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=irw3IbjP3vQ)


	22. Under The Spotlight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Singapore always throws up a few surprises

_Tuesday 13 th September – Singapore_

“You should get that it might be someone important. I’ll speak to you later okay?” Seanagh sighed; she had only just started her phone call home when someone knocked on her door.

“Yeah, I love you Mum. Say hi to Dad for me”

“I will darling, bye” Seanagh hung up and jumped off her bed and rushed over to the door. She opened it wide and was surprised to see her cousin stood in his gym gear.

“Hey Jo” Jolyon threw a towel over his shoulder and leaned against the doorframe.

“Fancy a gym sesh?” An hour or so in the hotel gym sounded not too bad of an idea.

“Give me five minutes to get changed” Once she was in a pair of shorts, t-shirt and trainers (all Ferrari branded – obviously) the two cousins look the lift down to the ground floor and made their way to the twenty four hour gym which was surprisingly empty. Jo jumped on one of the treadmills and Seanagh did the same, running at a steady pace. “So how’s the jetlag?”

“The usual, you?”

“Yeah the usual” They ran in silence that over the course of half an hour eventually became slightly awkward. Eventually Jolyon stopped and sat on the floor and waited for his cousin to do the same. They both sat with towels draped over the back of their necks facing away from the treadmills, seeing their slightly sweaty reflections in the mirrored wall.

“Are you alright?” Jo gave Seanagh a look that implied he wasn’t going to take a simple yes for an answer.

“Just a tough season that’s all” She felt bad saying that to Jolyon who was after all driving a Renault and was yet to score any points, but thankfully he seemed to understand.

“I know the feeling” Renault were still very publicly dragging their heels over their driver line up for 2017, Jolyon and Mia were hanging onto the faintest sliver of hope that they wouldn’t lose their seats. “But then again I don’t think our family like to do things the easy way do they?”

“That’s very true”

“How about we stuff this, go and order some room service and forget about racing for tonight” Seanagh nodded, the suggestion being absolute music to her ears, and went with Jolyon back to his room where they ordered pasta salads and chips and washed it down with a light beer sat on Jo’s balcony looking out over the brightly lit Singapore skyline. “Your Will’s going to be in his element when he gets here” From a visual standpoint the race was going to be a photographer’s dream.

“His first Singapore Grand Prix too” Seanagh hummed, looking up at the black sky hoping to see some stars.

“Hopefully the first of many” They clinked their glasses before downing the dregs that had accumulated at the bottom of their glasses. Both Jo and Seanagh pulled a face at the slightly bitter taste as they set their glasses down before going back to admiring the view. “Don’t worry about this weekend, I’m sure that you and Seb will manage” Seanagh wished that she could say something in return to comfort Jolyon but she couldn’t find any good enough words to say.

“I best get going, I kind of want an early night”

“That’s fine, just as long as you’re okay yeah?” Jolyon walked Seanagh to the door and hugged her one last time before she left.

“Yeah I’ll be okay, see you and Uncle John for breakfast tomorrow?”

“See you then, night”

“Night Jo!” Seanagh slowly walked down the corridor to take the lift back to her room, and ended up meeting Seb and Antti when the lift doors opened. “Evening” Antti just smiled while Seb started the conversation.

“You alright?”

“Yeah fine just catching up with Jo, I see you two went to the gym”

“Well someone has to” Antti smirked before diving out the lift first and almost sprinting down the corridor. The two team mates didn’t comment on it, and walked towards their rooms at a much slower pace.

“We’ve got that event thing tomorrow haven’t we?”

“Yeah, can’t remember which one though. I’m sure we’ll be kept right”

“I hope so, see you tomorrow” Seanagh arrived at her room first and gave Seb a small smile before he walked off. She dived towards her bed and pulled her phone out of her pocket, the time on the screen now read half past two in the morning, still another hour and a half to kill before the bizarre Singapore timing schedule said she could sleep.

After about ten minutes Seanagh was in bed watching a film on the TV when Richard came barging into her room, she almost forgot that he and Vanessa shared the spare key.

“I’ve got something really good lined up for you” Richard was looking extremely pleased with himself as he sat down on the end of the bed. “You’re clearly not in the mood for guessing… Elle Japan are doing a feature on you, their cover star pulled out at the last minute so they want you instead” Seanagh looked at Richard open mouthed; a magazine cover meant a photoshoot, and that meant being dolled up to the nines. And given how short notice it was it would probably be taking place inside the paddock “Everything’s being done on Thursday and Ferrari have approved it so nothing to worry about, it’ll be fine”

Richard left as quickly as he arrived and Seanagh slumped down in her bed and ran her hands across her face. Magazine interviews meant being asked questions about her personal life, something she really wasn’t in the mood for.

 

_Thursday 14 th September_

All of Seanagh’s worst fears about the magazine cover were realised when she arrived at the paddock on Thursday, they wanted to do the photoshoot on the track which also involved her wearing a very figure hugging red dress and a pair of high heels. Thankfully Seanagh was able to do her racing driver duties first before doing her normal press interviews, once she had spoken to the last of the motor racing press Richard led Seanagh from the press pen to one of the outside tables at the Ferrari hospitality where one of the Elle journalists was waiting patiently.

“Hi, I’m Danielle. It’s a pleasure to meet you” She had long dark hair that was styled into loose waves and she wore a turquoise blouse with a pair of dark denim jeans and brown sandals, unsurprisingly stylish for a fashion journalist.

“Lovely to meet you too, this is Richard he’s my press officer” Seanagh shook Danielle’s hand and quickly introduced Richard who was already giving out his charming smile. “I guess I’m ready whenever you are” Seanagh sat down opposite Danielle with Richard taking a seat at the next table, giving the pair some space but ready to jump in if any questions crossed a line.

“Wonderful” Danielle already had her notepad and dictaphone on the table ready to go. Thankfully she started with some racing related questions to break the ice, much to Seanagh and Richard’s relief. “So, nearly twelve months ago you were announced to the world as being the first woman to drive for Ferrari in Formula 1, what’s it been like since then?” Seanagh paused, she hadn’t quite realised she had been a part of the team for almost a year, and what a year it was turning out to be.

“Well… it’s certainly been nothing like what I expected. I’m not really sure if I could sum it up in a few sentences, but being a part of this team gives me the most amazing feeling. It’s still so strange to think that I drive for arguably the most prestigious team in this sport, but I love every second of it”

“And you’ve already made history this season; so far you’ve finished on the podium six times including that amazing win at the Spanish Grand Prix. Your success has given both you and Formula 1 so much attention from women around the world, how does it feel to be a hero to so many of them?” The warm, humid air seemed to catch in Seanagh’s throat; she’d been called a proud figure of the sport or a role model, but never a hero. That term was always saved for her male counterparts.

But then again she thought of all the women and young girls she saw at the driver’s signing sessions and how they had always looked up at her with such wonder. Maybe she was a hero to them and she just hadn’t realised it before.

“It’s almost overwhelming sometimes actually, especially after I won in Barcelona. I got so many messages on social media from people congratulating me. A lot of them were women saying how happy they were to see a role model for their daughters, or younger girls in karting who were just happy for me to prove that women can be competitive in motorsport. I know it’s a big deal to a lot of people, but I try and not think about my gender too much. For me I’ve always just considered myself to be a racing driver. But at the same time, I guess it does make me happy knowing that girls who watch Formula 1 have not one but two women to watch, that was something that I didn’t have when I was growing up, which is something that I know is quite special to Mia Sanders and myself” Seanagh paused and let Danielle hastily scribble into her notebook.

Sebastian appeared out of hospitality and said a quick hello to Seanagh when he walked past as he appeared to be filming something with the German broadcaster. Danielle somehow managed to see the brief exchange.

“And I have to ask, what’s it like being team mates with a four time world champion?” Seanagh let out a small laugh; she sometimes forgot that Seb was quite a big deal himself.

“Not too bad actually, on race day though it’s pretty tough because Seb is one heck of a racer, but off the track we get on quite well I’d say. As strange as it sound to some people we do kind of consider ourselves as friends. I think on the whole it’s a tough being compared to someone who is arguably one of the best drivers of his generation… but I’ve always been up for a challenge” Seanagh added with a bright smile.

“And what about your personal life?” Danielle asked suddenly while hastily scribbling down in her notebook.

“Um…” Seanagh’s mind went blank as the question had caught her off guard. She wondered just what kind of answer she would have to give.

“Surely you don’t get into the most prestigious Formula 1 team without making a few personal sacrifices” Danielle pressed leaning slightly forward. Seanagh let out a sigh, Danielle didn’t know the half of it, and she certainly wasn’t going to find out.

“I think that… a lot of the drivers have made some kind of sacrifice to be where they are. I mean all of us miss things when we’re away at races; for me personally I missed my brother graduating university because it clashed with the race in Baku. And I know a lot of the guys who have kids speak about things a lot…”

“Yes but what about _you_ ” Seanagh bit on her lip, she was effectively being asked what her and Richard called ‘the boyfriend question’. If her situation in the department wasn’t so confusing she would have been able to reel off her usual answer without too much trouble.

“I mean yeah, it’s tough when you come back home after a race weekend and your flat is empty because it’s just you living there. For me right now I just want to focus on my racing and making myself a part of this team, maybe in the future I’ll worry about that kinda stuff but for the moment I’m not too bothered. I have my friends here in the paddock, and my family of course and I’m pretty happy with that” Danielle gave Seanagh look a look that somehow made the words tumblr out of Seanagh’s mouth before she could stop them “I mean, I don’t really need someone to be a part of my life in that way, but I guess it would be quite nice to have someone I suppose.

Thankfully the interview veered off into easier questions about travelling, and fashion. All that Seanagh could easily reel off an answer to.

Once the interview was finally over Richard led Seanagh off to get changed for the photoshoot, and she emerged roughly half an hour later, carefully walking down the stairs in the high heels and red dress clutching her helmet in one of her hands. Her hair had been curled into loose waves and thankfully Vanessa had helped Seanagh with her make-up, dark smoky eyes and a bright lipstick the same colour as her dress. Some of the people in the team looked when Seanagh emerged, but only for a few seconds before they went back to whatever they were doing.

“You’re not going to wear that for the race are you?” Seanagh jokingly rolled her eyes when she turned round to look at Sebastian who as usual had a flirty grin on his face. “You do look lovely though” Seb winked at her and Seanagh gave him a look, as if to say not in front of their mechanics.

“It’s for the interview thing I was doing before” Seanagh gently flicked her curled hair off her shoulder; she was quietly hoping it wouldn’t go all frizzy in the heat because that would draw even more attention to herself.

“Ah, I’ll see you later then” With another small wink Seb was dragged away by Britta before he could flirt anymore much to everyone’s relief. Richard just shook his head and led Seanagh into the crowded paddock. She couldn’t wait to be back in the car.

 

_Saturday 17 th September – Marina Bay Street Circuit_

The end of Q1 had been signalled by the chequered flag being briefly waved. A few cars were still on track doing fast laps so the final order hadn’t quite been decided. Seanagh had easily made it through and was sat in her car in the garage watching the FOM feed on the screen perched on top of her car.

“Damn” Seanagh muttered and shook her head at the scene that was unfolding on the screen in front of her, Jolyon had been knocked down to seventeenth by Mia, but worse than that Seb was in twenty second place thanks to a mechanical failure that no one seemed to know anything about.

“Looks like it’s all on us Seanagh…” Seanagh sighed as Dave spoke over the radio.

“Yeah I got that pretty loud and clear” She shook her head as a red clad figure walked over to Seanagh’s car and crouched down, Seanagh looked to see who it was and she was met by a pair of striking blue eyes that looked utterly devastated. Seanagh just shook her head at Seb, who grabbed one of Seanagh’s hands and squeezed it tightly.

“Good luck” Seanagh nodded and squeezed Seb’s hand back in reassurance. He upped and left to probably go and do his post-qualifying interviews.

“Right Seanagh we’re checking the car, everything seems to be alright”

“The car felt fine in Q1 Dave, you just worry about the traffic okay? I’ve got this”

 

After the minor disaster that was a short lived qualifying Sebastian hurriedly got changed before his interviews and headed back to the garage just as quickly, just making it back a few minutes into Q2, he stood with the mechanics nervously watching Seanagh on track hoping that her car wouldn’t breakdown. She easily made Q3 in fifth, and luckily with all four wheels on the circuit.

“Come on Seanagh…” Seb bit down on his bottom lip and tapped his foot nervously as Seanagh went out for her second lap in Q3. His eyes were glued to the FOM feed in front of him and he had a headset firmly pressed over his ears. The garage was almost silent as everyone watched the number sixteen Ferrari. The entire weight of the team was no resting on Seanagh’s shoulders right when Ferrari had been looking slightly off pace all weekend.

“Okay Seanagh… the Red Bulls have been complaining about their laps, so we really need you to find two maybe three tenths…” Dave didn’t sound too hopeful on the radio; Seanagh on the other hand was her usual determined self.

“Three tenths? Not a problem” The only noise in the garage was Vanessa shouting out Seanagh’s split sector times.

“Half a tenth up in sector one” Seb nodded taking in and letting out a deep breath, he kept his eyes firmly on the screen above him silently willing his team mate on. “One and a half tenths in sector two…” If she didn’t improve then Seanagh would be starting in fifth, but knowing Seanagh in the way that he did Seb knew she wasn’t going to give the Red Bulls the satisfaction of starting in front of her, or one of them at least.

When she crossed the finish line securing fourth on the grid everyone in the garage was pleased at the fact she had been able to both improve her time and split the two Red Bulls. Seb sighed with relief and smiled up at the screen when it showed Seanagh’s Ferrari, he felt proud, a good job for one car at least.

 

_Sunday 18 th September – Singapore Grand Prix_

“Will you be alright to walk to the car yourself Seb?” Seanagh joked to her team mate, who raised his eyebrow before chuckling.

“I’d worry about the start if I were you, and who knows where I’ll be after a few laps” Seb grinned, closing the gap between them to a few inches with a single step. “On a serious note…”

“Good luck today, and keep out of trouble” They patted each other on the shoulders and quickly hugged, as they always did before a race.

“You too, since I can’t be on the podium today it might as well be you” Seb winked with a bright grin before turning to stroll down the grid. “Save some champagne for me!”

“I can’t promise anything!” Sebastian was eventually lost in the mass gaggle of TV crews and engineers, causing Seanagh to turn her attention to Dave before getting in the car.

 

_“It’s lights out and away we go! It’s a good start from Rosberg, looks like Palmer as we- Oh there’s contact! Hulkenberg is in the wall, Ricciardo’s held second, there’s a battle for fourth place with Hamilton and… Alonso, where did he come from?!”_

“Safety car! Safety car! Slow down, slow down… save some fuel. There’s a lot of debris on the main straight so you’ll have to pass through the pit lane”

“What happened?!” Seanagh exclaimed while changing the fuel flow setting on her steering wheel, while also fretting about Sebastian, if he had gotten caught up in some midfield scrap at the start...

“Hulkenberg had an incident with the Toro Rosso’s at the start, everyone’s fine. Just stay calm, we’re in P3 now, this could be really good for us Seanagh” She let out a sigh and allowed the track to be her sole focus again. She looked at the rear light on Ricciardo’s Red Bull, with Nico’s Mercedes just ahead.

“Copy, copy. Where’s Seb?”

 

“Jesus! What was Bottas doing?!” Seb just managed to avoid the Williams after his pit stop, but it didn’t stop him from throwing a hand up in the air in frustration as he left the pit lane and re-joined the track.

“I don’t know Seb, don’t worry about it. We’re-”

“Where’s Seanagh?” He hadn’t been able to look at the trackside screens to see where his team mate was.

“She in P3. We’re eighteenth now, so stay calm and focus on your race. You know what to do” Just overtake hopefully more than half the field around one of the most challenging circuits on the calendar. Another average Sunday.

 

_“Lap 45 and Mercedes have pulled Hamilton in for a surprise third stop; he goes onto the super soft tyre. Now the question is, are Ferrari going to pit Palmer in as well, or will she stay out with the 20 plus second advantage she now has?”_

“Dave what on earth is going on this wasn’t in the strategy?!” Trying to keep her car out of the barriers around Singapore was bad enough without her team suggesting a surprise pit stop out of absolutely nowhere. At least they had the decency to suggest it on one of the straights.

“I’ll let you know, I’ll let you know!” Dave sounded incredibly flustered; he was probably in the middle of making a load of calculations as to whether or not it was going to be viable for Seanagh to make another pit stop. As she ignored the pit entry and went down the main straight to start the next lap, Seanagh made a decision and was hoping that it was for the best. And that she wouldn’t get fired come the end of the race.

“Guys let’s _not_ pit, we have a good gap now. We’d risk losing that by making a rash decision” She tried her best so sound confident as she came out of turn three.

“What?!” Maurizio came on over the radio, sounding a combination of both confused and annoyed.

“We have a good gap now, and even then it’s one thing to catch up and another to overtake. So let’s just focus on keeping me on this podium okay? The tyres feel fine anyway” There was a gap of silence for about half a lap, in that time both Seanagh and a very large group of commentators were wondering if she had made the right call.

“Okay we’ve ran the numbers. If you were to stop we’d be behind Hamilton. So just keep your head down, I’ll tell you to push when we need to. But let’s get this podium” Dave thankfully sounded a lot better than what he had done a lap ago. As Seanagh came round to the start finish straight for another lap she took in a deep breath before flicking her eyes to her steering wheel dash screen.

“Right so what’s this gap to Lewis?”

 

“So where are we compared to the others?” Sebastian had lost count at just how many cars he had gotten past, now at least he found himself in clear air and had the chance to breathe. It didn’t take long for his mind to start wondering about his team mate.

“Lewis is in front in fourth, seventeen seconds ahead, the same drivers in the top three on the podium”

“So Seanagh’s still in P3?”

“Yes Seb, our girl’s still in third”

 

_“Last lap now and we have two charges going on here, Ricciardo on Rosberg for the win, and Hamilton on Palmer for third place! Looks like we really could be in for a grandstand finish today here in Singapore, but who out of the two pairs is going to come out on top?”_

“You’re doing really good Seanagh, really well. Lewis is one point five seconds behind us” She could see the Mercedes getting closer and closer in her mirrors. Seanagh wanted to keep a hold of her third place so desperately because she knew how much the team needed some kind of good result for morale sake. She just had to get onto the podium, she had to.

“Yes that’s fine just let me drive!”

 

_“Meanwhile in all of this Vettel is still in fifth on his set of ultrasofts, his team mate seems to be holding off Hamilton. But it is really hotting up between Hamilton’s team mate Rosberg and Daniel Ricciardo with just half a lap left he really seems to be closing the gap”_

_“It seems they’re both coming through some traffic so this could work in Ricciardo’s favour”_

_“It looks so but they are coming into the final sector now, so Dan if he wants it really needs to make a move now and it doesn’t look like he’s close enough”_

_“And meanwhile Hamilton has locked up again so it seems that Palmer’s podium for Ferrari is pretty certain”_

_“And while that is going on, our leaders are going into the last corner, Daniel Ricciardo has tried everything but it’s Nico Rosberg who wins in Singapore… what a result he held on there, Ricciardo comes through in second and Seanagh Palmer finishes in third place, Lewis Hamilton in fourth and Sebastian Vettel, from the back of the grid, comes home in fifth place. But Nico Rosberg has now reclaimed the championship lead!”_

“Okay Seanagh that was a really great job, that’s P3 for us. Seb’s in fifth. Great drive at the end, and nice call with the tyres” Dave sounded as if the weight of a grand piano had been lifted off his shoulders as Seanagh hear clapping and the occasional cheer in the background of her engineer. Seanagh grinned and waved to the crowd on her parade lap and excitedly pumped her fist in the air. It was her first podium finish since Silverstone, and she was damn sure that she was going to enjoy it.

“Nice one guys, I’m really proud of us today. I’ll try and save some champagne for you on the pit wall. Grande regazzi, Forza Ferrari!”

 

“Have I missed it?” Seb jogged through the manic pit lane over to parc ferme and looked up at the empty podium, squeezing his way through the crowd of excited white, blue and red clad team members. He caught Richard’s gaze who managed to pull Sebastian through Seanagh’s mechanics so he was stood with the press officer.

“No, there they are!” Vanessa and all the Ferrari guys around her cheered as Seanagh walked out onto the podium with a beaming yet relieved grin on her face. Sebastian couldn’t help but smile proudly when he saw her up there, if like today he had no chance of making the podium and could choose someone else to be up there, he’d choose his team mate every single time. “She did good huh?” Seb loudly applauded as Seanagh was presented with her trophy.

“Brilliant as always. Look I need to go but…”

“I’ll tell Seanagh she’ll see you in the debrief” Seb shuffled his way through Seanagh’s mechanics and walked over towards Britta, looking up at the podium one more time and giving a huge cheer before jogging away to see the press.

 

Seanagh returned to the garage with her champagne bottle in one hand and her trophy in the other after finally dealing with the hordes of press. She reluctantly gave the trophy to Richard who was trying to organise the post-race team photo in front of the garage.

“Excuse me” Seanagh turned round from her group of mechanics to see Sergio Marchionne stood a couple of feet away from her. She had completely forgotten the Ferrari CEO was in attendance. And he was even smiling.

“Mr Marchionne” Seanagh politely smiled and extended her hand. “Very good to see you sir” She was relieved to see Marchionne’s smile grow wider and he firmly shook Seanagh’s hand.

“Congratulations on your podium, you had me worried. Taking the strategy into your own hands. It’s good to know the team can rely on you” She had always known that Marchionne wasn’t entirely keen on her being in the second car, despite all the good press Ferrari had gotten. But it seemed that maybe her podium might have changed all of that. Maybe.

“T-thank you, sir” Marchionne walked off to speak to Maurizio before Seanagh could become a stammering mess and a delighted looking Sebastian took his place.

“I hope you saved some champagne for me” Seb chuckled as the two team mates shared a long hug out of sight from everyone. Seanagh beamed up at him, and couldn’t help but notice how proud of her Sebastian looked. She felt proud of him too, so much so that a wild thought to kiss him crossed her mind. “Dave told me what you did with the strategy, that took some balls”

“Metaphorical ones of course” Seanagh smirked and Sebastian roared with laughter so much that his eyes began to water.

“Right you two we’re ready” Richard came over towards the drivers and Seb took a small step backwards managing to subside his laughter with a cough.

“I don’t need to be in the picture, it’s your day so…” Seb gestured to the front of the garage and Richard raised an eyebrow and muttered something before going back to the team.

“Well maybe I want you in the picture next to me” Seb’s eyes widened looking slightly taken a back. Seanagh didn’t like the sound of a team picture without her team mate, it just didn’t seem right. “Besides you had a pretty good race yourself, and they say you can’t overtake round here…”

Sebastian looked down at his shoes and blushed before following Seanagh out to the front of the garage. She crouched down at the front of the group right next to Will with her trophy taking pride of place in front of them. For whatever reason Vanessa left a space between herself and Seanagh and Seb knelt down on the concrete in between his two colleagues.

“Good job today Seb!” Will smiled over at him as the team gave a loud cheer for the cameras, Seb felt nearly blinded by all the flashing lights and put his arm round Seanagh for comfort, he smiled that little bit brighter when Seanagh did the same.


	23. Celebrations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some numbers are just that little bit special

_Thursday 29 th September – Sepang International Circuit_

“We haven’t missed it have we?” Richard looked at his watch as he and Seanagh walked out of the Ferrari hospitality building and into the warm and sunny paddock.

“No, I think we should be alright. After you” They jogged over to the McLaren building, which had in part been made over to look like an old English pub called ‘The Dog & Button’ for Jenson’s 300th race. Inside there was a dartboard on the far wall, small circular tables with chairs which loads of people (mainly journalists with a few other drivers) were sat around talking. The usual all white building had been decorated with red carpet and matching wallpaper and a picture of a drinks display behind a small wooden bar.

“Wow” It was so strange for Seanagh to see her old team transform the place just for Jenson, but just about the whole paddock knew he was worthy of such a gesture.

“Hey look who’s here!” Daniel’s voice easily filled the room as he ‘announced’ Seanagh’s arrival. Jenson noticed and went over to meet her and Richard, picking up his former team mate in a giant bear hug.

“Thank you so much for coming over, I’m surprised you both still remember me” Seanagh lightly hit Jenson on the shoulder before Richard excused himself to catch up with some of his former colleagues. “Fancy a beer?”

“A _beer_?!”

“What kind of self-respecting pub doesn’t have beer?” Jenson asked with a chuckle and led Seanagh over to the back of the room. He went behind the tiny bar with the intent of serving his former team-mate personally. He pulled out three bottles from behind the bar, each one with their own unique labels: ‘300’, ‘Somerset Scrumper’ (Seanagh had to stop herself from giggling at that one) and what Jenson called his personal favourite… ‘Ol’ Brawny’. “So what’ll it be m’lady?” Seanagh laughed at Jenson’s terrible attempt at a cockney accent before picking up one of the bottles.

“Don’t tell me that was you trying to be Barbara Winsor?” Seanagh chuckled.

“Hey don’t make me kick you out of my pub” Jenson mock glared before smiling and getting a bottle opener for their beers. “I hate to disappoint you… but the beer is alcohol free”

“Oh Jense! You had to ruin the illusion of me thinking I was back home”

“To drinking fake beer in a fake pub at Sepang” Seanagh and Jenson clinked bottles and sat down at one of the free tables. The vast majority of the drivers were there, either playing darts or talking amongst themselves. The atmosphere was so chilled and relaxed; it was almost as if they weren’t set to be racing all out against each other in a few days’ time. “It’s nice to see you here buddy”

“I wouldn’t have missed this for the world Jense” Seanagh smiled at him, as nice as Ferrari and Sebastian was, she missed her old team mate dearly.

“For some reason I thought that Ferrari would have deliberately kept you occupied” Jenson sighed, and looked at Seanagh with a small smile.

“Yeah but you know me, I would have turned up anyway”

“Of course you would…”

 

Sebastian jogged through the paddock after his early track walk to the McLaren hospitality building, Seanagh had told him something about McLaren throwing some kind of party for Jenson and that all the drivers were invited, he would have forgotten about it if not for a pub sign hanging from the outside wall moving about in the warm breeze.

He quietly walked in and all Seb heard was chatter, the hospitality floor had been made into a small ‘pub’ and was filled with drivers and journalists and a large chunk of the McLaren team. After looking around he spotted Seanagh and Jenson sat at a table in the corner both laughing away over two empty beer bottles. Seb squeezed his way through the various groups of people and felt it best to make his presence known. He and Jenson did get on after all.

“So did Seb say if he was coming?”

“I don’t know, I mean I told him that everyone was-” Seanagh paused once she saw Seb and smiled. “I think you can see for yourself Jense” Jenson grinned and greeted Sebastian with a brief but friendly hug, and offered him a bottle of beer.

“Beer, really?” Sebastian was incredibly disappointed when Jenson told him it was alcohol free. “Well I am German so sadly I have to pass” Jenson and Seb both laughed as the older Brit went to pull up a chair.

“Hang on I think Dan’s spotted you” Daniel bounced over grinning as always holding a few darts in his hand.

“Fancy a game mate? You know for old times” Seb contemplated the offer before realising it was best to give Seanagh and Jenson some more catch up time. They had barely seen each other all year.

“Go on then, but no cheating”

“Oh come on Seb I _never_ cheat” They left with Dan affectionately slinging an arm round Seb’s shoulders before tossing a coin to see who went first.

 

Seanagh and Jenson both happily talked about everything that had happened since they had last seen each other, Jenson it seemed was planning on moving to California with his girlfriend once the season was over. He had sounded so relieved and happy when he spoke, and Seanagh was glad to see her old friend finally being able to live the life he wanted.

“I didn’t think this many people would come” Jenson looked around at the small army of people that had turned up. By this point it seemed like all of the drivers were there plus half of the paddock’s journalists. Seanagh shook her head in disbelief at Jenson’s remark before leaning in slightly.

“Of course they would, everyone likes you mate. Even my bosses” Jenson grinned trying to surpass laughter. “And besides, how often are we going to drink fake beer in a fake pub in Malaysia”

“That’s true I suppose” Seanagh and Jenson stood up as a special pit board had been brought in which had a congratulatory message for Jenson on reaching three hundred races. Daniel, Marcus and Stoffel were making their way up to the bar for the photo has had been agreed beforehand.

“You wouldn’t mind would you?” Jenson asked looking cautiously optimistic.

“What, me being in the picture?” Jenson nodded, and Seanagh replied with a beaming smile. “I’d love to”

After a few more hours of drivers socialising, playing darts, and of course – cake. The drivers and any other guests all eventually left with the promise of visiting after Friday practice. Seanagh had left with a few pictures of herself and Jenson and some other drivers, as well as a group selfie of what had been dubbed by Stoffel as the ‘2015 McLaren Squad’, which consisted of Seanagh, Jenson, Fernando and Stoffel. In the picture all four of them were happily grinning away with their arms round each other, but Seanagh’s Ferrari gear easily stood out among the black and white shirts.

Reluctantly Seanagh headed back to the Ferrari building with Seb and Richard in the hope that they weren’t in too much trouble for going without officially clearing it with Maurizio or Stefania.

“I think you guys had pretty much done everything anyway, apart from your track walks” Richard looked through the driver’s schedules on his phone before placing it back in his pocket. “Still it was nice to see everyone again”

“Yeah it was really, really lovely” Seanagh spoke with a nostalgic sigh and took one final look over her shoulder at the Dog & Button before walking back into Ferrari.

 

_Sunday 2 nd October – Malaysian Grand Prix_

Jolyon, Seanagh and Mia all walked together off the parade truck and slowly headed back towards the paddock while trying to avoid any lingering journalists. Seanagh would always use the drivers parade at means to catch up with the two Renault drivers since Ferrari would always keep her so busy over the rest of the weekend.

“Good luck guys” Seanagh hugged Mia first, then Jolyon; holding her cousin that little bit tighter. She never thought about it during the race, but Seanagh would always worry about him knowing he was on track with her. “Keep it on the black stuff yeah?” Jo nodded and rubbed the top of Seanagh’s arm.

“Be safe mate”

“You too, both of you”

“I’d be more worried about our engines lasting if I were you” Mia joked before hugging her friend again. “Have a good race” Seanagh nodded and took a few steps backwards towards the Ferrari building. “Oh shoot…” Mia told Jolyon to go and that she wouldn’t be a second in speaking to Seanagh. Given the look on her face it must have been important.

“Mia?” She looked round and leaned in speaking quietly so no passing journalist would hear.

“I have a seat for next year” Seanagh smiled a huge sigh of relief and enveloped her friend in a huge hug. “Williams, alongside Bottas”

“Shut up… that’s amazing!” The two drivers smiled brightly at each other. “We can talk about it after the race” Seanagh and Mia looked at their watches and frowned, they were supposed to be getting ready for the race. They hugged and wished each other luck before heading back towards their own teams.

 

Seanagh smacked her hand against the steering wheel as she crossed the finish line at the end of the race. Fourth place. And so annoyingly close to the podium but just that little bit too far away.

“Sorry Seanagh, looks like that one got away from us” As she waved to the crowd on her parade lap she wondered if Dave was referring to the podium or the season as a whole.

“Don’t worry about it, there’s always Japan” Seanagh parked the car in parc ferme and slinked out of her Ferrari and slowly walked to scrutineering, gutted at missing out on another podium for the team after Seb dramatically crashed himself out on lap one.

“Hey” Seanagh spun round after being weighed and saw her team mate standing a few feet away in his normal team gear and shorts with his sunglasses hanging off the collar of his shirt, Seb’s hands were firmly in his pockets.

“Hey” Seanagh jumped down from the scales after being weighed and walked out of scrutineering back to the Ferrari garage alongside Sebastian. “Did you get to see Dan?”

“No I didn’t, you?”

“Nah I literally just missed him” Neither of them looked back as Nico was cheered onto the podium alongside Dan and Max. “Not really a weekend to write home about was it?”

“No not really” Seb shrugged. “But at least Jolyon will be going home happy” Seanagh raised an eyebrow, now really knowing what Sebastian was referring to. “You didn’t know? He finished tenth, got his first point”

“He got _what_?!” Seanagh exclaimed, she stopped walking and looked at her team mate in shock. “My cousin finally finished in the points and no one told me?!” She shook her head and ran back towards scrutineering; thankfully Jolyon was still there and had just jumped off the scales with a beaming grin on his face.

“Jo!” He spun round at the sound of his cousin and watched as Seanagh ran over and almost knocked him over with a strong hug, not that he was too bothered as he wrapped his arms round Seanagh’s shoulders. “Well done mate!” Jolyon was so happy he even let Seanagh ruffle his hair, something he always hated when they were younger. “I’m proud of you” She looked up at her cousin with tears in her eyes and the pair walked out of scrutineering with their arms around each other. Some of the press seemed to notice and started taking a few pictures while the podium interviews took place above them.

“I know it’s just the one point but…”

“It’s still a points finish. And it’s brilliant!” Seanagh stopped to hug Jo as they reached the Renault garage, still grinning at him from ear to ear. “I’ll see you later” Jo waved as his press officer whisked him away to speak to the press. With a smile that could almost match Dan’s Seanagh walked back towards the Ferrari garage, Seb was waiting where Seanagh had left him. “What are you grinning at Sebastian?” He was currently looking at his phone, smiling away looking very pleased with himself.

“Oh, just my photographer’s eye” He held out his phone and Seanagh took it, on the screen was a picture of Seanagh and Jolyon looking at each other, both beaming with pride as they walked through the pit lane.

“I think Will might steal that off you” Seanagh joked as she resumed walking.

“He might, I think I’ll just send it to him. You know save him the trouble” As they finally reached the Ferrari garage, Richard was waiting cap in hand to take Seanagh to the press.

“Let’s get this one over with shall we?”

 

The press had been kinder than expected. It turned out that fourth places were actually quite admirable – that is if you were competing against a very racy Mercedes in a not so racy Ferrari. Seanagh was almost finished packing her bags back at the hotel when Jolyon arrived at her door ready to go.

“I thought you’d be out celebrating?” Seanagh asked as she zipped up her suitcase.

“I had one drink with the guys downstairs. But Marcus said something about going to a nice bar in Tokyo when we land. You’re welcome to join us”

“Sounds good, I’ll have to clear it with Richard first though” One of the downsides of being a Ferrari driver was having to do so many press events. Once happy she had all her things Jolyon led the way out into the hallway when they ran into Seb by the lifts.

“Congratulations on your race” Seb clapped Jolyon on the shoulder with a small smile.

“Thanks, sorry about yours. Are you off to the airport?” Jo asked looking down at Seb’s bags, Sebastian nodded and ran a hand through his hair. “You’re welcome to share our taxi”

“I already have one booked with my trainer, but thanks for the offer” Sure enough Britta and Antti were waiting patiently in reception. Jolyon strode out of the lift with Seanagh behind as they headed towards the reception desk where they were checked out of their room within minutes, and wished a pleasant journey and a good race in Japan by the receptionists. Seanagh waved goodbye to Seb and his entourage before joining Jolyon in the taxi which sped off towards the airport. As the car drove off she leaned back in her seat and let out a long sigh, what she wouldn’t give for just one day off.


	24. Reminders

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's impossible to forget everything

_Tuesday 4 th October – Tokyo _

In the two years that had passed since she had last properly seen it, the Tokyo skyline hadn’t changed a bit. Not that Seanagh had really expected it to. The neon lights still shone brightly against the night sky and Mount Fuji was looming somewhere behind the forest of skyscrapers, it’s grandeur almost lurking behind the bright lights, glass and concrete.

“Admiring the view?” Ferrari thought they were being clever and booked Seb and Seanagh neighbouring rooms in the same hotel. It had taken Seanagh all of two minutes to realise that is was a very bad idea, as Ferrari had unknowingly booked rooms in the hotel where Seanagh and Sebastian had spent their anniversary getaway.

“Yeah, I guess so… how did the cycling thing go?” Seb was still wearing his cycling gear. He was dressed in all black, the only pop of colour being the yellow Ferrari shield on the left side of Seb’s black zip-up top. Seanagh couldn’t help but notice how the fabric clung to Seb’s torso; it brought a hot flush to her face so she looked away from her team mate and back out to the view in front of her.

“Fine, the road was so busy I had to try and not get ran over” He almost forced a laugh; their balconies were so close together they could almost feel the awkward tension between them. And to think things had been going so well the past few weeks for one single hotel to ruin it all.

“Well it’s nice to have you back in one piece” Seanagh had to admit, there was a small comfort knowing that Seb was only next door. She turned to look at him with a small smile and tried to not think about how bright and gorgeous his eyes looked. “I was going to head in, see you tomorrow”

“Goodnight” Seanagh quietly closed the balcony doors and flopped down on the bed pulling out her phone to text Vanessa.

_You were right… I’m really not okay_

**_Pop round to my room and get everything off your chest_ **

Seanagh did just that taking only her phone and keycard before going up a couple of floors to Vanessa’s room. Her trainer gave her a sympathetic look when she opened the door and swiftly placed the do not disturb sign on the door.

“I’ve worked with you for nearly six years Seanagh, I know when you’re lying to me” Seanagh huffed and flopped herself down on the bed. “Your season hasn’t been that bad. And besides you could still be driving that McLaren, the Ferrari is a massive upgrade if you ask me”

“It’s not the car… or how my season’s going” Seanagh stood up off the bed and went to sit down on the floor, pulling her knees up against her chest. She rested her head against her knees and took a deep breath before speaking. If she had told Mia then she probably should tell Vanessa too, it was only fair. “I slept with Seb in Belgium” Vanessa’s eyes widened as she shook her head looked at her driver in shock. “He came to see me at the hotel after the race and I just wanted to forget what had happened and he was there and…” Seanagh trailed off, that one night really had burned itself into her memory. “I’d do it again and again in a heartbeat if I could” Vanessa said nothing and sat on the floor opposite Seanagh.

“You fell for him again didn’t you?” Seanagh nodded and looked at her feet. Vanessa gently patted Seanagh’s arm in sympathy, both her and Richard had noticed how close the pair were over the past few months but had never said anything. “I think that there are far worse things than falling in love with your team mate”

“Really?” Seanagh looked at her trainer in confusion.

“Oh yeah, I mean you could hate each other – Maurizio would love that – you could be constantly crashing each other out, saying horrible things about each other in the press…” Vanessa grimaced and sighed. “At least this way you can hide it, or at least _try_ to”

“I can’t believe I let myself do this…” Seanagh sighed and rested the back of her head against the wall.

“Hey, don’t be angry at yourself for loving someone. That’s a horrible mentality to have” Vanessa moved to Seanagh’s side and placed a reassuring arm round her drivers’ shoulders. “I really think you need to talk to him about this”

“But what if-”

“You don’t have to do anything about it. Just talk, that’s all” Seanagh let her head fall onto Vanessa’s shoulder. “If you don’t mind me asking, feel free to tell me it’s above my pay grade”

“Ask me what?”

“Did you know when you fell back in love with him?” Seanagh sighed and furrowed her brow, she couldn’t exactly pinpoint when she fell for him again, she only knew that she had and every time she had tried to tell Sebastian the words would always get stuck in her throat. “I mean it wasn’t Belgium or some time before that…”

“Oh no it had to wave been way before Belgium” At least that Seanagh knew “It didn’t just happen at the drop of a hat Ness. It takes time to fall in love with someone let alone fall back-” A penny dropped in Seanagh’s mind cutting her speech off.

Suddenly it all seemed to make sense why as the season had went on Seanagh had come to care for Seb so much, why she wanted to comfort him on his birthday, why she was always so happy when they were on the podium together, why she always wished they were on the podium together. Why when she asked Seb in Baku if he was staying to help sort out the car she was delighted when she said yes. Why at Kimi’s wedding she’s kissed him without giving it a second thought. Why she wanted to relive that night in Belgium all over again.

She’d spent the whole year falling back in love with Sebastian and she hadn’t even noticed until now.

“How about we go to the gym? Try and clear our heads” Vanessa stood up and held her hand out which Seanagh took to haul herself up off the floor.

“That’s the best thing I’ve heard all day”

 

“What am I supposed to do Britta?” Seb had slumped himself in a chair in the corner while Britta was catching up on any missed emails on her laptop, her fingers hammering away at the keys with her gaze focused on the screen in front of her.

“I don’t know if there’s anything you can do Seb” Britta frowned and turned towards her driver. “I haven’t been in this situation before so I don’t know how much help I can be” Seb huffed and buried his head in his hands. “Maybe you should just go and get some sleep; you might feel better in the morning”

“Okay…” Seb was so mad at himself for falling in love with Seanagh again so quickly when he hadn’t expected to do so at all. He seemed to remember the moment when it had hit him so well. When she had gone to speak to him in China after the race, when she had put a hand on his shoulder and told him not to worry, when she had started calling him Seb again.

“Look Sebastian it could be a lot worse”

“How could it possibly be worse?”

“Well you could hate each other, or she could be with someone else, or _you_ could be with someone else…”

“Okay, okay… I get it” Britta crouched down opposite Seb and placed a reassuring hand on his knee. “Just tell me the truth just how screwed am I?” Britta rolled her eyes, and gently rested her other hand on his shoulder.

“You aren’t screwed at all, you’re just-”

“In love with my ex-girlfriend who just happens to be my team mate, right” Seb huffed and slid down in his chair. What a mess.

“Like I said go get some rest. We’re going to Suzuka tomorrow and the fans will all want to see you rested and happy” He sighed but agreed and thanked Britta for listening to him “Well you have to pay me for something don’t you” They both laughed and Seb wished Britta a pleasant evening and left.

When he reached his room it seemed that Seanagh had also just come back from somewhere else. They both looked at each other for what felt like an age, their hands hovering over the handles on their doors.

“Goodnight Seb” Seanagh opened the door to her room first and took a step inside it.

“Goodnight Seanagh” Seb quietly replied and went back into his room. Alone.

 

_Wednesday 5 th October – Drivers Hotel, Suzuka_

Despite how much everyone loved coming to Japan; there was one literal tiny downside. The hotel rooms.

As soon as you left Tokyo, the hotels rooms no matter where you went were about half the size of a box room. For most it was a struggle to open the door with one hand and haul in their bags with the other. Everyone did manage however, and sent texts to their loved ones back home announcing their safe arrival before unpacking the essentials. And in the case of the drivers sorting through their small mountains of gifts.

Seanagh looked at the assortment that laid out in front of her; there were many cards and fan books filled with good luck messages. And even a small cuddly teddy bear wearing a hand knitted Ferrari scarf. Seanagh picked it up and brushed her thumb across the black prancing horse and smiled before setting it and all of the other gifts down on the desk in the corner before turning to unpack her essentials leaving the rest of her clothes stuffed in her suitcase.

After about half an hour Vanessa arrived to collect the spare room key before her and Seanagh headed down to the surprisingly quiet hotel restaurant for lunch.

“I still can’t believe that some of the fans wanted pictures from _me_ ” Vanessa sighed looking over her bowl of noodles, at the rest of the races Vanessa and Richard went unnoticed, but because the Japanese fans were always so enthusiastic about meeting anyone from the paddock they loved to meet the driver’s physios and press officers too.

“You can’t deny that the Japanese fans are the sweetest. It’s so nice to be back here” When Seanagh had visited Tokyo two years ago she had fallen in love with it, and a year later in 2015 when she was doing press duties for Honda she had fallen for Japan itself. She had ordered a variety of sushi for lunch – something that Jenson and Stoffel had expressed their jealousy of in passing. “So what’s the plan for the rest of the day then?” Seanagh asked, carefully dipping her crab sushi roll into some soy sauce.

“I don’t know, probably working off this food” Vanessa sounded oddly downbeat, something that was incredibly rare.

“Oh Ness what’s the matter? You’ve looked sad all day” Seanagh put down her chopsticks and looked at her trainer with a sympathetic gaze, hoping it would get the truth out of her.

“I just… I feel bad being here when I should be helping out with the wedding” Vanessa’s younger sister was getting married in a week’s time. Luckily the F1 circus wasn’t pitching anywhere in town so it was perfect timing, but Vanessa being the maid of honour desperately wanted to be there to help with the preparations. “I mean if it all goes well she’s only going to get married once. I just feel like I’m missing out” Seanagh sighed and placed a reassuring hand on Vanessa’s and gave her a warm smile.

“At least you’re going to be there on the day, and trust me I doubt that you will forget the smile on her face when she walks down the aisle. That is what’s important. Everything else beforehand is just glorified paperwork” Vanessa chuckled and smiled at her boss through watery eyes.

“Thanks, and you’re sure that you’ll be okay by yourself next week”

“Yes I’ll be fine. I’ll stay at the factory for a couple of days and do some sim work then head home before flying to Austin with you and Richard” Seanagh had a very quiet week planned out for herself, she had been really looking forward to it for a while and hoped that nothing was going to get in her way of enjoying it.

 

_Thursday 6 th October – Suzuka _

“Hi Britta, mind if I join you?” Richard had walked over with two cups of tea in his hands as some kind of offering to let him sit with her even if there were other tables free.

“Of course” Britta moved the sheets of paper she had been working with out of the way and happily took one of the paper cups from Richard’s hands. “Everything okay?”

“Yeah…” Richard paused, unsure how to word what he wanted to ask her. “Is Sebastian alright?”

“I think so, why do you ask?”

“Well, I don’t know if you remembered but today…” As always he looked around to make sure no-one was listening “Had _they_ stayed together would have been their anniversary and-”

“Ohhh…” Britta’s shoulders slumped and she looked over at Seb who was speaking to Crofty from Sky. “In that case no he’s not completely alright. He seemed a bit down at breakfast this morning, no wonder why” Richard hummed, and looked out the window into the paddock to see Seanagh happily chatting away with Jenson and Stoffel.

“Yeah Seanagh was pretty upset in Tokyo, she seemed to think that where Ferrari had put us was the same hotel they stayed at when-”

“It was” Britta replied with a simple nod and took a small sip of her tea. “I helped him choose the room”

“Poor things” Richard shook his head as Seanagh walked in from the paddock and towards her press officer.

“Hey Rich, hello Britta” Seanagh smiled at them both before heading towards the stairs. She tried to squeeze past Seb and Crofty unnoticed but it was no use.

Both Richard and Britta watched the interaction between the two team mates. Seanagh smiled at Crofty and shook his hand before glancing over at Seb with a quick hello. They were no more polite than any of the other team mates were so Crofty hopefully wouldn’t notice too much even if they usually were a lot friendlier with each other.

Seanagh left with a polite smile at them both and jogged up the stairs, Crofty left at the roughly the same time and briefly said hello to the press officers as he went. When they looked back at Seb he was standing at the stairs and lightly smacked the banister with the palm of his hand before heading into his own driver room.

Richard and Britta shared a look and took that as a sign to go and comfort their drivers.

“Poor things indeed”

 

_Friday 7 th October _

Seanagh looked down at her shoes as she tied her hair into a ponytail at the back of the garage. Richard muttered something to himself before darting back into the paddock patting his pockets, Vanessa shaking her head as he went.

“Left the team phone in hospitality again” Vanessa shook her head. Richard was one of those incredibly organised people that also surprisingly tended to be a bit of a scatter brain. “You okay?”

“I will be once I’m in the car” Seanagh tried her best to smile, she had still woken up in a rotten mood that morning.

“Well let’s get you there then” Vanessa wondered how Seanagh would be once she was out of the car again; she just hoped that she would be kept busy long enough to stop her mind wandering. Once Seanagh and Sebastian were out on track doing their long runs Britta joined Vanessa in the garage, wearing the same concerned facial expressions. “How is he?” She asked with a frown, not that Vanessa really needed to ask. She didn’t really spend a lot of time with Seb and even she had noticed he wasn’t his usual self.

“The same as Seanagh” Britta frowned. “Thanking too much about what was” it was almost cruel how her and Sebastian had ended up as team mates, knowing that there was a lot between them that had remained unsaid about their relationship that had ended two years ago that very day.

“Do you think they’ll be alright tomorrow?”

“They should be, qualifying is a pretty good distraction” At that point Seanagh’s car was pushed back into the garage and she hopped out of the car, immediately going to her mechanics and engineers asking for tiny details of her set up to be changed after her install lap.

“And this seems to a pretty good for her as well”

 

“Yeah I think our pace is definitely promising. Obviously we still need to keep an eye on the Red Bulls, but given that fact that Mercedes are running their engines a bit lower then maybe we can take advantage of that. We’ll have to wait until tomorrow to be sure, but I’m feeling really positive” After her last interview Richard led Seanagh out of the press pen and back towards the team hospitality building for the engineering debrief.

“You feeling alright?” He placed a hand on her shoulder and gave her a warm smile.

“Yeah, I mean the car feels great so… hopefully I can make the second row” Seanagh grinned for the first time that day, for any driver having what felt like the perfect setup was a great feeling going into qualifying.

“And naturally you’re going to do everything you can to get there” Racing drivers really were something else.

“Naturally” She shared a bright smile with her press officer before diving into the engineers office, making sure to take a seat at the opposite side of the room from Seb.

 

After the debrief the drivers went to get changed for the team press briefing, Seb would usually rush down stairs after getting changed but he made a very quick stop to speak to his team mate in her room. He quickly knocked on the door and was relieved when Seanagh opened it.

“Mind if I have a word?” He was slightly breathless after rushing to get dressed; he wanted to be sure that he definitely had the time to speak to her.

“Sure” It seemed that Seanagh was too busy looking for her shoes to look at her team mate, so Seb walked in and closed the door behind him.

“Are we okay?”

“What do you mean?” Seanagh looked up at Seb with a puzzled expression; she was leaning against her massage table with Seb keeping a reasonable distance between them.

“I mean… here. Where we are…” Seanagh looked back down at the floor again, Seb sighed not really knowing what to say. “I know what Thursday would have been and I’m sorry. We’re both clearly still upset about it” If only time machines could be invented to stop such stupid things from happening. Seanagh just shrugged and looked down at her bare feet.

“I’ll be fine tomorrow” Seb nodded and went to leave, not wanting to stay for any longer than necessary. “But to answer your question” Sebastian stopped and turned around. “I think we’ll be okay” There was no animosity between them, just a lot of hurt at what could have been. Seb opened the door and smiled.

“Your shoes are just over there by the way” He pointed in the corner next to her racing boots. “And don’t forget your cap”

“I won’t, thanks” With a small smile Seb left and headed downstairs to see the press.

 

_Saturday 8 th October _

“Right” Seanagh clapped her hands after putting her racing boots back on and jumped up from her spot on the floor. “Let’s reign in those Bulls shall we?” Seanagh looked at Vanessa who just wore a very proud smile, third practice had gone reasonably well; everyone was just hoping that it was going to fruit some good results when it mattered.

“Ah that’s the spirit, just don’t get pulled into the stewards you hear me?”

“Loud and clear my dear press officer, save some of your finger nails for tomorrow” Seanagh winked at Richard before leading Vanessa briefly out into the paddock before diving into the Ferrari garage. Will had positioned himself somewhere between the end of the pit lane and the inside of turn one hoping to get some good snaps, it felt strange not having him in the garage for qualifying.

“Just do your best okay. Mercedes is probably out of the question but everyone else will hopefully get a lovely serving of your break dust” Seanagh smiled, tying up her hair and pulling her balaclava over her ears.

“Thanks Ness” She zipped up her overalls and finally pulled her HANS device and helmet down over her head, blinking a few times to be sure she could see out of her helmet before walking over to the car and fixing the chin strap and putting on her gloves.

“They’ll be alright” Antti had joined Vanessa on Seanagh’s side of the garage and placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder. She had to remind herself that the Finn was speaking about Seanagh’s pace and not her off track melodrama with Sebastian. “From what I’ve seen Seanagh’s more than capable of handling the pressure” Vanessa knew that, she just had to look at Seanagh’s quali lap from Silverstone, so she wasn’t sure why she was nervous.

“Yeah, she’ll do us proud I know she will. And Seb too despite his penalty” Antti nodded before turning his attention to the screens above their heads as Seanagh and Seb rolled out of the garage for the start of Q1.

 

Vanessa breathed a sigh of relief and grinned at the end of qualifying; Seanagh was third on the grid and was reasonably clear of the Red Bulls on the timesheets. Right where she deserved to be.

“Told you” Antti almost looked smug, or maybe it was just the way he was smiling at her.

“Yeah” Will had came back into the garage after Q2, claiming he was too nervous to take photographs. He did get one though: Seanagh at the front of the garage being congratulated by some of her mechanics with Maurizio looking on from the pit wall, the faintest traces of a smile on his face.

“Where did she finish?” Seb jogged over to his team mate’s side of the garage after getting out of his own car looking between Vanessa, Will and Antti for an answer.

“Third” Will grinned, Seb easily matched his smile.

“Good, that’s very good, brilliant even…” He trailed off looking at Antti who led him back to his side of the garage. Vanessa and Will both shared a look and shook their heads trying not to laugh.

“Someone ought to give him a lesson in subtlety” Will chuckled as he looked through some of his photos on his camera screen.

“Hmm, maybe two just to be on the safe side”

 

_Sunday 9 th October _

On Sunday morning instead of the usual pre-race calm, a large number of Seanagh’s mechanics and engineers were huddled around tables at the very back of the main hospitality floor in small groups, speaking vividly in a mixture of English and Italian. When one of them loudly cursed it was clear something wasn’t quite right with Seanagh’s car. “I don’t like the look of this” Dave frowned; this wasn’t the kind of news he wanted to tell his driver, let alone on race day.

“Hey, what’s the matter guys?” Seanagh walked over to the tables seeing the scene as soon as she had arrived and all of her mechanics looked at her either frowning or mildly angry at her circumstances.

“We think your gearbox has a problem. We might need to change it for the race”

“Which means we’ll incur a five place penalty” Dave looked at his driver and gently placed a hand on her shoulder, she already looked slightly deflated. “We’re really sorry. We’ll know within the hour”

“Okay” Seanagh tried her best to smile before darting off to her driver room and sat herself down on the floor before cursing under her breath. It seemed the second half of Ferrari’s season was going from bad to worse to completely and utterly dismal.

There were three sharp knocks to her door a little while after, Seanagh got back up onto her feet and opened the door to see whoever was on the other side. “Oh, hey boss” Maurizio was stood with his arms crossed, the scowl he had been wearing for the past few months still very much present.

“I am sorry about the gear box, they are changing it as we speak” His downbeat tone confirmed the eighth place that Seanagh would now be starting in. So much for that podium she so desperately wanted.

“It’s okay, shit happens right?” Maurizio shrugged, and apologised again before leaving. Probably to check on the mechanics in the garage. Seanagh shook her head and locked herself in her room for a few minutes, trying to clear her mind before looking over her various notes to try and figure out just what she had to do to get some decent points.

 

“I heard about your penalty” Sebastian had made the odd decision to spend a few minutes with his team mate before heading over to the grid for the race. Both drivers had changed into their race gear and had the top half of their overalls hanging from their hips. Seanagh hummed as she sat on the massage table while Seb was leaning against the wall opposite her.

“I’m beginning to think that our cars don’t like being so far apart” Seb gave a small hum in reply and looked out of the small window into the paddock. He didn’t say anything about the two drivers not enjoying being far from each other either. “What a year” Seanagh sighed and looked down at her feet which she gently swung back and forth.

“Could be worse” Seb shrugged and walked over to the massage table and sat next to his team mate. “At least you and I are friends”

“God could you imagine if we hated each other?” Seanagh huffed out a long sigh and looked over at Seb. “We might even have given Nico and Lewis a run for their money” Seb quietly chuckled and clasped his hands together in his lap. “I’m glad we’re friends” Seanagh gave Seb a warm smile, which he gladly returned.

“Me too” Seb briefly paused. “I should get going, Antti might start looking for me” Sebastian jumped down from the massage table and looked at his team mate. “Good luck”

“You too Seb” Seanagh stepped down onto the floor and hugged Seb tightly, resting her head against his chest with her nose buried in his nomex fireproofs. “See you on the grid” It was Seb who reluctantly stepped out of the hug this time and opened the door.

“See you, team mate”

 

“You’ll be alright, just stay out of trouble. You should at least get some points today” Vanessa handed over Seanagh her drinks bottle which she took a long sip from.

“Should…” Seanagh sighed; a part of her was disappointed that she wouldn’t be standing on the podium today unless some form of miracle happened. Damn that gearbox penalty.

“Hey, don’t worry about what could have been. Focus on now okay. Show them what you’re made of” Vanessa handed Seanagh her helmet and was led off the grid by Richard, leaving Seanagh alone again with her thoughts. Before putting her helmet on she took one look at the car right in front of her. Sebastian’s Margherita. She just managed to catch Seb’s eyes as he rounded off his conversation with one of his mechanics. The two team mates shared a nod and a small smile before climbing into their cars.

 

After everything the weekend had thrown at the Ferrari drivers they were both very pleased to be going home after finishing in fourth and fifth after a thankfully quiet race, not really wanting to think about how had they not been given penalties one, or maybe even both of them, probably would have finished on the podium. Seb was already at the airport as he had booked an earlier flight to Switzerland while Seanagh’s flight to Italy was slighter later on in the day. She was waiting at one of the many train stations on her journey when someone tapped her on the shoulder.

“Excuse me miss do you know what time this train is supposed to arrive?” Seanagh turned round and nearly jumped out of her skin at someone standing in front of her wearing a giant silicone Jenson head. She stared at the person startled for a few minutes before looking at their right arm, and saw a tattoo of a coat button near the crook of their elbow.

“Jenson…” She wacked him on the shoulder for giving her such a fright.

“Oh come on!” Daniel’s muffled laughter (he had decided to be Fernando for the evening) could have been heard from yards away. Seanagh shook her head at her ex-team mate. “You don’t miss a trick do you?”

“I wouldn’t be so sure of that” She pulled out her phone and took a selfie with Jenson, taking her time to think of a funny caption for social media as they got on the train. Vanessa had called home the first minute she could to make sure everything was alright with her sister, leaving Seanagh and Richard to quietly talk amongst themselves.

“Looking forward to the week off then?”

“Absolutely. I can’t wait to get back to my own bed. And having a nice quiet week” Seanagh had been dreaming about a weeks’ worth of lie ins for the past two days. Richard smiled and went to pull something out of his bag.

“Managed to see this in departures” It was the latest issue of Elle Japan, which had Seanagh very much on the front cover. “I thought your Mum would like it. I know your parents like to keep some clippings” Seanagh smiled and looked at the picture of herself briefly before placing the magazine in her own bag.

“Thanks Rich”

“No problem” He patted Seanagh on the shoulder as Vanessa sighed happily and placed her phone back in her pocket. “All well back in Oxford?”

“Yes, I’ll be back home in time for Lucy to get her dress” She grinned and looked between Seanagh and Richard excitedly. “You guys okay, I hope I didn’t bore you talking about this wedding all weekend”

“No, no. It’s fine. It’s Thursday the wedding isn’t it?” Vanessa grinned, almost bouncing in her seat. “Well send my regards to Lucy and her fella. I hope it’s a really lovely day”

“Yeah me too, at least we’ll have something to talk about on the flight over to Austin” Richard joked, Vanessa laughed while Seanagh just smiled and briefly looked down at her left hand. Realising that if life hadn’t got in the way that it could also have been her celebrating her own big day just a few years ago.


	25. Just Visiting?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Or is it a well needed stay?

_Tuesday 11th October – Zurich Airport, Switzerland_

“I’m sorry miss but right now it’s impossible to get back to the UK for the next three days” The woman at the help desk looked completely exasperated at having to tell everyone the same thing at least a hundred times. Seanagh huffed and apologised for bothering her before letting the next person in the queue have their shot at complaining.

It seemed that at some point while Seanagh was in Japan half of Europe’s Air Traffic Controllers had decided to go on a flash strike for three days, meaning that it was pretty much impossible to fly anywhere within Western Europe. It meant that the airport was stuffed with far more passengers than normal, all of whom were varying degrees of being pissed off.

Seanagh almost rued going to visit the factory and wished she had gotten the same flight as Richard and Vanessa back to London; she hadn’t even been in Maranello for five minutes when she had been told to head straight for the airport before the strike started. She had flown from Bologna to Switzerland via Rome on Monday night and had stayed at the airport in the hope she could get back home that way but as a result of the strikes Spanish, French and German airspace were completely closed. And to top it all off every train out of the country was fully booked too. So she was stuck, in Switzerland. For three whole days.

As she walked through the packed departures hall she thought about getting a rental car and driving into Zurich to try and find a hotel when an idea suddenly popped into her mind. It was a long shot, but despite everything that was going on the two were still friends, who would both easily help each other out in a heartbeat.

 

“That was a very good run Seb” Antti patted Seb’s back as they walked through the front door of the driver’s house. Sebastian toed out of his trainers and went to put them down by the door. “Do you want me to get started on lunch?”

“No need” Seb took off his sweatshirt and t-shirt and ran a hand over his face. “Let me get changed first, I’ll do it” Antti, who sounded quite pleased at the thought of not having to cook went into the kitchen and sat down at the breakfast bar to check his phone. He only had one message but he squinted at it in confusion, he somehow became more confused after he’d read it. “Remind me again what I’m supposed to be cooking” Seb returned in a clean shirt and looked in the fridge.

“Um…” Antti shook his head and found Seb’s eating plan without too much trouble and handed it to him.

“You okay?” Seb asked as he got the ingredients out the fridge.

“Seanagh texted me” Seb turned round and looked at his physio with a very puzzled expression. “Hi Antti sorry to bother you, I’m in a bit of a tight spot and left Seb a message could you get him to call me back?” Antti read the message off his phone and shrugged. Sebastian sighed and headed into the living room as his phone was on the coffee table. “I’ll cook lunch then…” Antti huffed and got the rest of the food out the fridge.

 

Once Seb was in the living room he sat down on the sofa to check his phone and sure enough Seanagh had left him a voicemail. Sadly the message didn’t make much sense and with a shake of the head he dialled her number, her phone rang a few times before she answered.

“Seb!” She exclaimed, sounding very relieved.

“I got your message, what on earth are you doing in Zurich?”

“Uh…” She paused at allow herself to yawn. “Bit of a long story that one”

“So why can’t you fly home?”

“Ah, turns out all the French, Spanish and German air traffic controllers are on strike for a few days, and I’d get a train but they’re all completely booked too” Seb huffed, he had heard something about it on the radio that morning. “I know it’s probably a bit much, but could I stay with you for the next few days?” Seb stopped himself from instantly saying yes and paused; they were supposed to be ‘being professional’. To hell with that he thought.

“Of course you can” Seanagh sighed with relief and he could swear he heard a smile in her voice.

“Thank you so, so much Seb”

“Anything for you” After all she had let him stay at her place last minute, so maybe it was only fair he returned the favour.

“I need to sort myself out with a rental car but I’ll send you a text when I’m on my way”

“That’s fine, see you later” With a quick goodbye Seanagh hung up and Seb hauled himself off the sofa. He looked around the living room and deemed it to be in a good enough state before heading back into the kitchen where Antti was cooking. “Sorry about that”

“No problem” Antti shrugged as he plated up his and Seb’s lunch. “Everything alright with your little friend then?” The Finn winked, Seb tried his best to not react to it as he said everything was fine and tucked into his lunch.

 

After a very long almost two hour drive of getting lost twice and getting stuck in far too much traffic, Seanagh finally found Seb’s house. She had recognised it in an instant, the only difference from the outside was that a Jeep was parked where an Infiniti car used to be. As she switched off the engine she let out a long breath and slumped down in her seat and sat for a few minutes. The thought of staying at Sebastian’s place was a bit odd, but it was better than being in a hotel with nothing to do. At least she’d have some friendly company.

Eventually Seanagh talked herself into getting out the car and she slowly walked towards the front door, ultra-fine gravel crunched underneath her boots as she approached it. She knocked three times and waited. After a short wait Sebastian opened the door wide and smiled the most stunning grin at her.

“I was beginning to think you’d gotten lost” For whatever reason, probably an accumulation of spending a sleepless night in an airport, and the relief of finding a place to stay Seanagh lunged forward and hugged Seb tightly.

“You have no idea how grateful I am for this” Seanagh took a small step back but still kept her arms around Sebastian. “You’re far too kind to me Seb” He just smiled, said it was nothing, and offered to help Seanagh bring in her bags. Seb led the way upstairs towards one of the spare rooms that he had spent the past forty minutes fussing over.

“Is this okay or…”

“It’s perfect Seb. Thank you” Seanagh touched Seb’s arm with a smile and softly kissed his cheek before placing her things down on the end of the bed. “Would you mind if I made myself some lunch in the kitchen?”

“Of course not” Sebastian followed her down the stairs and found Antti sat in the kitchen on his phone, he smirked when Seanagh walked into the room and looked over at Seb.

“That’s me off, I was thinking of stopping by tomorrow afternoon. I thought Seanagh could join our training session” He hopped off his seat and looked between the two drivers.

“Sounds fine to me” Seanagh replied.

“You two will be alright with this won’t you?” Antti asked, curious about how their pair of them in Seb’s house for three unsupervised days was going to pan out.

“Of course we will” Seanagh replied placing some food on the counter with a smile thrown in the Finn’s direction.

“See you tomorrow then” Antti winked at Seb as he left.

 

Seanagh woke not long after nine the next morning stretching her arms high above her head, she sat up and looked over her shoulder and sighed at the view. It was almost as if it hadn’t changed in the two years she had last seen it. The sky was still a beautiful bright blue with hardly any clouds, the green grass looked as lush as it ever had and the mountains in the distance still looked as grand as ever. The only thing missing would be to have Seb by her side, but he was in his own room in his own bed because it wasn’t two years ago anymore.

She decided to go downstairs and make herself a cup of coffee and maybe make her and Seb breakfast, a small thank you for letting her stay over. Seanagh pulled a jumper and some fluffy socks from her suitcase and put them on before quietly descending the stairs humming to herself. As she neared the kitchen he heard music playing on the radio, and Seb trying his best to sing along, causing Seanagh to stifle a small giggle.

Some things it seemed, really hadn’t changed at all.

 

“So” Seb managed to fall into pace with Seanagh as they started another lap of the lake, with Antti watching on with a timer in hand from a very comfortable spot on the grass. “Antti hasn’t been teasing you too much as he?” Seanagh chuckled and slowly began to up her pace, hammering her feet into the ground.

“No more than usual” For some reason Seb’s trainer found the situation they were in quite amusing. “He hasn’t been bothering you about me staying over has he?”

“He seems to think I need the company” Seanagh hummed, she had wondered how Seb coped sometimes being in that large house all by himself.

“You manage though don’t you?” Seanagh looked over at Seb to see his face fall slightly.

“Most of the time” Seb jogged on for a few more paces before doubling over clutching his side.

“Are you okay?!” Seanagh, sounding slightly panicked, asked while placing a hand on Seb’s back. “Is it a cramp or something else?”

“It’s nothing I’m faking it” She took her hand off Seb’s back and frowned, surely he didn’t need to fake some kind of injury for them to have a conversation.

“Why are you-”

“I got you the flowers” Seb suddenly stood up straight, his cheeks and ears were flushed red and he had a slightly hopeless look in his eyes.

“Flowers, what…” Seanagh was confused until a picture of a red, white and blue bouquet manifested itself in her head “The flowers I got at Silverstone… were from _you_?” Seanagh looked at her team mate and tilted her head to the side in confusion, slightly annoyed at herself that she hadn’t recognised his handwriting on the small card that she had ended up keeping.

“Richard told me that Ferrari weren’t doing anything for your home race and… well it was your home race you deserved something!” Seb walked around in a tiny circle, waving his hands in the air as he spoke. Seanagh looked over to the other side of the lake where Antti had been sitting; the Finn had started to jog towards the pair, worried that his driver had some kind of injury. “I wanted to tell you at the test that I got them but we were both so busy and…”

“Hey” Seanagh spoke softly and put her arm round Sebastian’s shoulders. “They were beautiful, and I loved them” She went up on her toes and kissed Seb on the temple and moved her hand so it was resting on his back. “Do you need some help walking off that fake stitch?” Seb grinned and put his arm round Seanagh’s waist.

“Well since you’re offering” They took a few small steps and a breathless Antti finally arrived and looked frantic.

“It’s okay Antti” She smiled at him and gave Seb a small squeeze. “I’ve got him”

 

By the last day of Seanagh’s stay in Switzerland the air traffic strike had been called off a day early but due to the backlog of stranded passengers she wasn’t able to get a flight out to London until Saturday afternoon. Seb had gone out with Antti and Britta for dinner, they had offered for Seanagh to join them but she declined, mainly out of fear of someone recognising her and Seb together and getting the wrong idea.

So instead she had made herself some dinner which she ate in the kitchen alone and was now curled up on a sofa on the small roof terrace looking up at the stars. There had been times in the past when her and Seb had sat together under the stars and just talked. She missed it. She missed it so much.

Some soft piano music was quietly playing out of her phone speakers so the silence didn’t make her feel quite so lonely.

“There you are” Seb walked onto the terrace with a relieved sigh, Seanagh briefly looked at him before returning her attention to the stars.

“Have a nice evening?” Seanagh fiddled with the hem of her jumper as she spoke.

“Lovely. I’ll just go and get changed” He was wearing a smart shirt and trousers since he had taken Britta and Antti to one of Zurich’s nicer restaurants. He went to leave when the sound of the music stopped him, and he turned round to face his team mate. “Dance with me?” Seb asked quietly and suddenly.

Seanagh couldn’t find it in herself to say no, so she got up off the sofa and walked over to the spot where Seb was standing. She placed one hand on his shoulder and he placed one hand on her waist, and instead of their other hands being held to the side they held each other’s hands in the small gap between their chests. They swayed slowly to the music while solely looking into each other's eyes. At some point the music stopped but the pair stayed dancing, Seanagh let out a long sigh and rested the side of her head against Sebastian’s chest, he softly kissed her forehead and rested his head against hers.

They stayed like that for a while, for how long they weren’t entirely sure, but at some point Seanagh moved her hand off Seb’s shoulder and slowly down his back until her hand was round his waist too. She went up on her toes and kissed him gently without a care. As the kiss deepened they held onto each other’s hands just that little bit tighter, neither of them really wanting to let go.

Being professional, it seemed, was proving to be rather difficult.


	26. Long Time No See

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Maybe some old faces are best left in the past

_Thursday 20 th October – Circuit of the Americas, Austin_

Seanagh walked into the paddock on Thursday morning with Richard and Vanessa by her side, all three of them were well rested and ready for the last back to back race weekend ahead. The end of the season was becoming increasingly in sight and they couldn’t have been more relieved. Meanwhile the Texan heat was already starting to get to the Ferrari driver (she had just spent almost a week in Switzerland) so she proceeded to tie her hair up in a high ponytail laughing at one of Vanessa’s wedding stories.

“Excuse me miss you dropped your cap” An English voice said from behind her.

“Oh thanks” Seanagh spun round to accept the briefly missing property before being almost frozen to the spot by just who she was looking at in front of her; wearing a perfectly fitted Hass uniform with a red pass hanging around his neck no less.

“Yeah thank you!” Vanessa took the hat out of his hands and Richard quickly led Seanagh into the Ferrari building, following in Vanessa’s hurried footsteps. “Take her upstairs” Richard did as instructed as Vanessa rushed off to find someone. Seanagh dumped her bag on the floor, allowing it to just slide off her shoulder with a thud once she was in her driver room and looked at Richard in shock.

“Was that… actually him?” Richard had a hand over his mouth as he spoke. He looked just as dumbfounded as his driver, given Vanessa’s reaction it wasn’t that hard to figure out who it was.

“Oh my god…” Seanagh buried her head in her hands and leaned against the wall before slowly sliding down onto the floor. “Of all the jobs, in all of the places he could have gone to, he went to fucking _Haas_?!” Richard deliberately kept quiet and waited for Vanessa to come back because he really didn’t know what to say. When Vanessa returned she quietly shut the door behind her and locked it.

“Look it’s okay, we can get through it. Seanagh it’ll be fine” She was trying to sound like her usual calm and under control self but for the first time she failed miserably.

“How is it going to be fine, when my _ex-fiancé_ is here?!”

 

Seb followed a quieter than normal Britta out of driver his room for his press duties, starting with the drivers press conference. They both ran into Seanagh and Richard in the main hospitality area when they reached the bottom of the stairs. Both Brits, for some reason, didn’t look very happy.

“Hey, you alright?” Seb gave Seanagh a warm smile and placed a hand between her shoulders.

“Hey Seb” Seanagh spoke with a relieved sigh and they hugged each other as they usually did, only Seb’s team mate held onto him for a lot longer than normal.

“You okay?” Seanagh had a very noticeable frown on her face, which was strange because she seemed so happy at the hotel during breakfast.

“Fine, I need to go. Press duties” She gave a clipped reply with what Seb could easily tell was a forced smile. Something wasn’t right and she clearly didn’t want to say. And judging by the look on Richard’s face he wasn’t going to tell either.

“I’ll see you later for the track walk” Richard led Seanagh away to the table of waiting journalists where she gave them her best smile, forced or otherwise.

 

Despite it being late morning turning into the early afternoon it was still boiling hot. In true desert fashion the sun was already high in the cloudless sky beating down on the Circuit of the Americas, and on the drivers and mechanics walking around the track trying to concentrate. The external heat didn’t help the fiery conversation Seanagh was trying to avoid having with Tom right on the apex of turn one for possibly the entire paddock to see.

“I am far too busy to have a conversation with you right now” Seanagh tried to brush past him, it didn’t help that this was all unfolding just fifty metres away from her mechanics and engineers.

“Please just a few minutes” Seanagh heard the plea in his voice and took in a deep breath.

“A few minutes alright? I’m _working_ ” Seanagh spoke through gritted teeth and folded her arms across her chest trying to keep her emotions in check. The thought to slap him in the face had crossed her mind once or twice.

“I just wanted to apologise about scaring you and Vanessa this morning. I thought you were someone else” Seanagh scoffed and bit on her tongue to stop herself from firing words at him without thinking. “You know one of those people who pay an arm and a leg just to walk through the paddock, I should have realised when I saw the hat…” Seanagh shook her head, her jaw was still tightly clenched, she looked down at her watch and decided that Tom’s few minutes were up.

“Sorry but I’ve got a track walk to be getting on with” She really tried to not spit the words at him.

“Fine” Tom huffed and hurriedly walked past Seanagh’s team and headed towards the pit lane, almost running down the incline that led to turn one where Seanagh now stood completely alone.

“Are you alright piccolina?” Seanagh’s number one mechanic Emilio placed a hand on her shoulder and looked at her sympathetically.

“Not really… but I should be later. Hopefully” Out of nowhere he hugged Seanagh tightly, and the rest of her mechanics came round and patted her shoulders offering words of comfort.

“Who was he anyway?” Lucio, Seanagh’s strap in guy, looked over his shoulder to make sure Tom was gone. He was a very well built man, no one in the paddock really wanted to cross him.

“No one important” Deciding that telling the truth would only make the situation more awkward than it needed to be Seanagh began looking through her notebook and crouched down, skimming the asphalt with the tips of her fingers. “No one saw me speaking to him did they?” Knowing gossip in the paddock spread like wildfire she knew that if one person saw she’d be in an awful lot of trouble.

“Just us”

“Good” Seanagh stood up and was grateful to lead her mechanics away from turn one. “Now about this esses section…”

 

By the end of the day Tom hadn’t done much, he’d walked the track in the late afternoon by himself (only narrowly avoiding Seanagh’s brother taking pictures) and had just wandered around the paddock making sure the computers and IT systems in the Haas building were running like clockwork. He did hope that he could speak to Seanagh to get any last grievances they had out of the way, but her and Will had left together before he had a chance to ask.

So instead he found himself sat at the hotel bar with a few of the mechanics from the team staring his first ever glass of whiskey. He didn’t want to drink it in fear of the burn in his throat he would get straight afterwards.

“Ooooh look who’s just walked in” Ryan, the back-up rear jack-man, pointed towards the door, everyone turned round and saw none other than the actual Sebastian Vettel walk in by himself and go over to speak to the barman. For a quadruple world champion and multi-millionaire, he wasn’t dressed in anything too flashy, just a loose fitting pair of jeans, a grey t-shirt and white trainers. He looked surprisingly normal.

“Anyway, your round Tom before we go for dinner” Everyone else was on soft drinks and water as they were working on the cars tomorrow, Tom still hadn’t touched his glass. With a sigh he stood up and slowly walked over to the bar. Vettel was no longer talking to the barman was instead just stood around waiting.

“Excuse me, are you getting a drink or?”

“Oh no, just waiting for someone” He took a step aside and pulled his phone out of his pocket and went to call someone. Tom ordered the round of drinks and waited as the barman slowly put the drinks onto a large tray. “Honestly Seanagh how long does it take you to change a shirt?” Vettel laughed into his phone, Tom took the tray once it was full and nearly knocked the German over with it as he quickly walked away. Once Tom was back with his colleagues he downed the neglected whiskey, grateful for the sting it brought to the back of his throat.

 

“There you are” Sebastian greeted his team mate with a warm hug and led her over the booth he had reserved; they both slid into their seats and sat closely together. “Britta and Antti said they’d be here in a minute”

“So did Ness and Richard” Just then the press officers and trainers arrived and sat down next to their drivers after exchanging apologies for being a few minutes late.

“What’s everyone having?” Antti asked as his eyes glanced over the drinks menu.

“Nothing alcoholic” Britta spoke for the whole table and specifically scowled at Antti before she took everyone’s order and headed over to the bar.

“This is a nice idea Seb” Richard remarked smiling brightly. “Nice for the six of us to chill out before the weekend properly starts” Britta returned with a variety of soft drinks and mocktails and swiftly handed them all out. Seb couldn’t help but notice Seanagh tense up as a group of who he recognised as Hass mechanics walk past their table. He went to quietly ask if she was okay despite her looking like her normal self as soon as the group had left.

“Here’s to hopefully having a good weekend” Seanagh raised her glass and the others did the same, the group clinked their glasses before taking a long sip of their drinks and chatted for the rest of the evening.

 

_Saturday 22 nd October_

Vanessa smiled as she watched the closing seconds of third practice, her driver in a very reasonable third place, even though it was slightly worrying that the Mercedes had only set their times on the slower tyre; with Sebastian in a poor sixth, not set on the slower tyre. As the chequered flag was waved into the air Vanessa slid her headset off so it was hanging round her neck as Antti came over from Seb’s side of the garage.

“Hey” The two physios gave each other a friendly smile. “What do you make of that then?” Antti asked, his arms still folded across his chest as they had been for the past fifteen minutes. Vanessa frowned as she glanced up at the timing screens just to double check they were right. Unfortunately they were.

“Still behind the Red Bulls, and the Mercs didn’t get to do their quali runs so…” She chewed on the corner of her lip and shook her head. Vanessa couldn’t really find any good words to say so she just shrugged, thankfully Antti seemed to understand. He looked over his shoulder as Seb’s car was pushed back into the garage as Seanagh pulled to a stop waiting for her mechanics.

“Duty calls” With a smile and a clap on the shoulder Antti left to hang around the back of Sebastian’s side of the garage waiting for his driver with Seb’s drinks bottle in hand. Vanessa turned to see Seanagh’s Ferrari being pushed into the garage and she too waited for her to jump out the car and have a brief chat to her engineers. Seanagh gave Dave a somewhat reassuring smile before she unzipped her overalls to let them hang off her hips as she walked over towards her trainer.

“Hey Ness” Seanagh sighed and took the drinks bottle from Vanessa’s outstretched hand.

“That was a pretty good lap there” Slower than the Red Bulls or not, the on board cameras never lied.

“You think so?” Seanagh looked up at the screens above her and frowned as she read through the order, probably thinking the same as Vanessa. “Damn” She bit down on her bottom lip and scratched along her jaw shaking her head.

“Hey, we won’t know until Q3. Just do your best, nothing more we can ask of you” Vanessa just smiled at Seanagh and gently rubbed her shoulder, it was all she really could do.

“Thanks Ness, see you after the engineers debrief” Seanagh smiled and walked off with Dave, Riccardo and Seb following suit a little while later. After a few minutes of standing at the back of the garage Vanessa went back to the hospitality building to make sure that Seanagh’s lunch was ready.

“Hey Luca” Vanessa poked her head through the kitchen door where the team’s head of catering grinned at her. “How’s lunch coming along?”

“Very well, should be ready in just a few minutes” The chef was currently fussing over two fillets of salmon, Mediterranean vegetables and a small pot of pasta for both Seb and Seanagh’s lunch.

“I’ll come back when the engineers are done, grazie!”

“You’re welcome bella” Vanessa chuckled as she left the kitchen and sat down at a four seater table and waited, making sure to keep seats for Will and Richard for whenever they returned. Ten minutes later than expected Seanagh emerged from the engineers meeting alongside Seb quietly talking and giggling over something.

“I’ll see you later Seb” Seanagh gave him a small wave and sat down opposite her trainer. “Sorry about that, we both went off on one again” The two team mates rambling on in engineering meetings, Vanessa wasn’t surprised at all. She didn’t say anything about it though, Seanagh really needed the distraction.

“It’s alright; I’ll go grab your lunch”

“No need” Almost as if on cue Luca strutted over to their table carrying a tray with Seanagh’s lunch alongside a serving of pasta and sweet potato chips with two glasses of orange juice. “Thank you so much Luca” Seanagh and Luca shared a knowing smile as he served them their food.

“You’re welcome piccolina. Enjoy your lunch ladies” Seanagh dug straight into her salmon and took a sip of juice.

“Everything okay?”

“You didn’t have to sort out lunch for me…”

“It’s not like you do it for me every race weekend…” Vanessa smiled and thanked Seanagh before diving into her lunch as Will and Richard returned from the paddock.

“You started without us!” Richard jibed as we went to get his and Will’s lunch. Will as always took the seat next to his sister and started to look through the photos on his camera to see if any pictures stood out to him.

“Were you at the turn eleven apex Will?” He nodded with a grin and showed her a picture of Seanagh taking the corner. “I knew one of the photographers waved at me”

 

Will was sat at the exit of the final corner for qualifying, camera in hand fitted with his choice wide angle lens.  As the session ended he waited with baited breath looking up at the large screens after all the cars had crossed the line. The top six cars were all in a team by team formation, Mercedes scoring yet another 1-2, with the Red Bulls locking out the second row and Seanagh just ahead of Seb in fifth place. Once all the cars were in parc ferme all the photographers dashed to get a picture of the top three, Will on the other hand took pictures of the mechanics and garages as he made his way to the top end of the pit lane.

“Oh hang on… it’s that Seanagh’s brother?” Will focused himself on pretending to look at the screen on his camera as he breezed past the guys from Sky; he thought he had been in the clear when Martin Brundle called him over.

“Ah Will, William? Mister Palmer can we grab you for a second?” Will spun round and put a polite smile on his face, since Martin and his Uncle Johnathan were good friends that last thing Will wanted to be was rude. “We won’t keep you I can imagine you’ll want to see your sister, but what did you make of Seanagh’s qualifying today?”

“Um… well it could have been a lot better, but the Red Bulls have looked quite strong all weekend. And the top five is still good so… I don’t know we’ll see how it goes tomorrow. We’re always hopeful” He tried to keep his answer short just in case he got into trouble with Richard or Britta, or worse – Maurizio and Stefania.

“Thank you very much, best of luck to Seanagh for tomorrow”

“Thank you” Will walked away and dived into the Ferrari garage and walked through into the paddock, taking very few pictures as he went. He found Vanessa sat alone at a small table on the hospitality floor as Richard was most likely still in the press pen with Seanagh. When he went over to join the trainer she gave Will a look to say that he’d been played on the TV screens that in Will’s mind took up far too much wall space “I did try to be optimistic” Vanessa hummed and looked at him as he sat down.

“You’re not the only one. I just hope tomorrow isn’t worse…”

 

_Sunday 23 rd October_

“Woah guys what’s going on?!” Seanagh drove the car out of the pit box after her second stop and the rear had instantly felt all wobbly as she sped away. It didn’t feel right. At all.

“Sorry there was a gun attached on the rear…” Dave almost sounded broken over the radio; he probably had his head in his hands. Seanagh managed to stop the car halfway up the pit exit and waited. “…just try and reverse the car down if you can”

“What, down the hill?!” Seanagh shook her head before putting the car into neutral and tensed up as the car slowly rolled down back towards the pits, but none of her mechanics were running to get her.

“Okay Seanagh just switch off, the engine’s too hot. I’m sorry” Dave definitely sounded broken that time.

Seanagh shook her head as she switched the car off and got out of it as quick as she could before walking down the pit lane towards the Ferrari garage just looking at her feet. There was an FOM cameraman following her to try and get a reaction, but Seanagh just kept her helmet on and visor down so the viewing world couldn’t see the tears brimming in the driver’s eyes.

She made a bee line for the back of the garage and gestured for Vanessa to follow her back to the hospitality building. Vanessa did so with a shake of her head and dumped her headset on the side where Seanagh’s helmet should have been placed. She only removed her helmet when she was walking up the stairs to her driver room, where she sat down on the floor and let out a loud sob and threw her gloves into the far corner of the small room. The only good thing was that Will was still trackside so he wouldn’t have to see his sister in such a state.

“For fucks sake!” Seanagh moved her hands up her head and into her hair, she almost wanted to scream from frustration. “How hard is it to get a pit stop right?!” Vanessa knew there was a chance for Ferrari to outscore Red Bull thanks to Verstappen’s DNF. But now it looked like yet another podium had eluded the Scuderia. Vanessa crouched down and placed an arm firmly round Seanagh’s shoulders.

“I’m sorry. You’ll just have to kick arse in Mexico instead” Seanagh scoffed and shook her head. “Just calm down before you see the press okay?” Seanagh nodded and waited for Vanessa to leave before she had a very quick shower and got changed back into her team gear. After fifteen minutes an equally disappointed Richard came to collect his driver and reluctantly led her over to the press pen.

“I know you don’t want to do this” Seanagh scoffed as she put her hands forcefully into the pockets of her jeans. “Just be positive for the team okay?” Seanagh thought of her mechanics who were probably beating themselves up for making such a costly error, she felt for them. So much so she tried to smile just for them. They had been so good to her on Thursday after all.

 

Later on in the evening hours after the race had finished Seanagh had found herself in the hotel bar sat in a booth with Tom. He’d approached her after the race wanting to talk things through and clear the air, and in Seanagh’s post-race down mood she figured why not. She didn’t have anything left to lose today. Even if it had been ten minutes with him already and it felt more like an hour.

Tom hadn’t changed since Seanagh had last saw him; he was still a tall and well-built five foot ten, his hair was still a short near-black dark brown with large eyes the colour of molten silver that were constantly trained on the Ferrari driver, dark three day stubble was peppered along his chiselled jaw. Annoyingly he was still the textbook definition of handsome.

“Sorry about your race” He returned to their table with two half pints of cola with segments of lime floating on top of the ice cubes. Their conversation had been slightly forced, Seanagh wasn’t sure if that was down to her mood or the fact she hadn’t seen Tom in nearly four years.

“Shit happens” Seanagh shrugged and ran her finger up and down the glass creating patterns in the condensation. She’d been saying that an awful lot lately.

“So…” Tom started leaning forward, his charming smile fixed into place. “How are you?”

“I take it you mean in general?” Tom nodded; he obviously knew how Seanagh was feeling in that moment. “Well I’m okay I guess. I have a good job, my nice London flat, great colleagues…” Seanagh paused, her eyes drifting away from her ex-fiancé. “I’m really good, just upset about my race that’s all” Seanagh saw Tom smile and take a sip of his drink.

“I must admit… red always looked good on you” Seanagh blushed at the flattery and glanced down at the table. “And well… you kicked that Dutch kid’s rear in Barcelona”

“You know how much I enjoy that track” He’d seen her win there so many times in the junior series.

“Yeah that’s true… and Silverstone as well. You were amazing”

“Thanks” Seanagh laughed nervously; suddenly realising she hadn’t congratulated Seb on his race because she was so caught up in her own failure. “Tom what did you ask me here to talk about?” Seanagh wanted to finish whatever conversation they were having so she could go and congratulate her team mate.

“I… I just wanted to see you again” Seanagh looked at Tom’s left hand and frowned.

“I thought you were married?” The absence of a ring had confused her.

“Ah… I was, but as of last Wednesday I’m not” Seanagh raised her eyebrows, Tom’s sister Alice had failed to mention that over the phone when they had spoken that very day. Seanagh hummed and went to take a sip of her drink. “You uh… seeing anyone at the moment or…”

“No” She replied quickly, it was the truth after all. And it turned out it was the truth that Tom had wanted to hear. He relaxed slightly and a wry smile appeared on his face, his eyes sparkling with temptation. “I wouldn’t think about it if I were you”

“And why’s that?” Tom asked with a raised eyebrow, tilting his head slightly to the side.

“Because I’m not interested” The way he was looking at her, completely with lust, implied he was only having this conversation with one thing in mind. It wasn’t really the way Tom had done things before. “And I don’t want to suddenly start seeing you again” Every time Seanagh looked it him she was reminded of the pain she had felt when they called off their engagement.

Yes she had loved him in the past. But his parents couldn’t stand her; they never approved of Seanagh being a racing driver, and would always drop subtle hints about how dangerous her sport was and how it would be so much better to not worry Tom and just stay at home and get a ‘more acceptable’ job. What was worse was that Tom never seemed to defend her, at least when Seanagh was around, and as their relationship grew over the ten years they were together she couldn’t help but wonder if he felt that way too.

That day when she had handed back her engagement ring and the keys to the house her and Tom shared in Northampton had hurt so much because she just couldn’t bring herself marry into a family that didn’t respect her no matter how much she had loved Tom. And right now sitting opposite him knowing he now worked in the sport she loved was providing a very nasty sting in her heart.

Besides, she loved someone else anyway. And she wanted to be with him instead.

“So if you’ll excuse me, I have a flight to catch” Seanagh pushed untouched her drink away and stood up from the booth and went to leave. Tom lunged forward and grabbed her hand to stop her.

“Come on love” He spoke so softly and with such care, it brought tears to Seanagh’s eyes. She pulled her hand away from his and took one last look at him. His eyes were still filled with lust and that just about said it all to her.

“I don’t ever want to see you again” She spun round and almost ran out of the bar, wiping away at her eyes in case she ran into anyone from the paddock because that was the last thing she needed. Instead of waiting for a lift she took the stairs and jogged up to her floor to try and save herself any more embarrassment. Once she arrived at the sanctuary of her room she took a moment and rested her head against the door to try and compose herself, feeling incredibly grateful that the corridor was quiet.

“Hey, I’ve been looking for you” Sebastian walking over to Seanagh and placing a gentle hand on her shoulder  was enough to startle Seanagh out of her skin, even if she was incredibly pleased and relieved to see her team mate. “Are you alright?” His warm smile turned into a worried frown when he saw how distressed she looked.

“Fine” Seanagh put on a fake smile and placed a hand on Seb’s arm. “Well done on your race”

“Fourth place is something I suppose” Seb shrugged and leaned against the wall, still looking at Seanagh with a twinge of concern. “Are you heading to the airport now?”

“Yeah, just need to get changed”

“I’ll meet you in reception then” Seb smiled and headed off to his room; Seanagh watched him walk away and rested her head against the door. She had planned on telling Sebastian at some point over the weekend just how she really felt about him, but she had ran into Tom instead. That seemed to have turned every emotion she had on her head. And temporarily ruined everything.

After nearly four years of wondering Seanagh felt almost certain of one thing though, it was probably a good thing that she never got married.


	27. Support

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sometimes the people you need are only half a garage away

_Thursday 27 th October – Mexico City_

The two team mates walked into the Ferrari fan event almost joined at the hip. They walked past the queue of fans who all started to talk excitedly in hushed whispers and small squeals when the drivers appeared. Sebastian waved and Seanagh gave them all a bright smile. It was early in the evening and there was a definite yet surprising chill in the air.

“Buenas noches!” The fans gave a small cheer at Seanagh’s small use of Spanish and watched as she walked with Seb into the backstage area where Maurizio was already standing with a cup of coffee. “Evening boss” Maurizio greeted his drivers with a nod and a polite hug before letting them dump their bags down and get their own hot drinks.

“I’m glad it’s not just me whose cold!” Seanagh and Seb were bundled up in their team raincoats and sweatshirts with Maurizio wearing a big puffy gilet. Seanagh blew across her hot chocolate to stop the steam from going into her eyes.

“You’re kidding right?! This is way colder than London”

“Hey I’m the one that might as well live in the Alps!”

“You do know there’s a heater in the corner?” Seanagh and Seb looked at their boss who pointed to the far corner of the room, where a metal outdoor heater was stood. “Don’t get too close” Maurizio said to both of his drivers as they rushed over to the source of heat. With a small shake of the head Maurizio pulled his phone out of his pocket and called Stefania with a disgruntled sigh. There were some times when having to keep an eye on his drivers was worse than babysitting toddlers.

“I love Mexico” Seanagh smiled as she finally felt a little bit of warmth on her face.

“Come on it’s not that cold…” Seb jokingly rolled his eyes and Seanagh gave her team mate a look at which he just grinned at.

“Said by Mister Alpine”

“That was a joke…” Seanagh shook her head and giggled, thinking that Seb will forever need to work on his sense of humour.

 

“Well that was… fun” Seanagh remarked at the police escort they had back to the hotel. Maurizio repeated ‘Better safe than sorry’ for about the fifth time before he told his drivers to get to bed and have a good night’s rest. Once Seanagh was in the safety of her hotel room she got changed into her pyjamas and began to pour over her notes from her Mexico run on the simulator and compare them to the notes she had taken from her track walk earlier on in the day. After about half an hour Seanagh’s phone buzzed and a text appeared on her screen.

_When do you want to compare track notes?_

Seanagh huffed and typed out a speedy reply.

**_Sometime tomorrow before FP1?_ **

_That’s fine, see you tomorrow x_

Seanagh stared at the small ‘x’ at the end of Seb’s message before placing her phone down on the bedside table and bringing her attention back to her simulator notebook.

 

_Friday 28 th October – Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez_

Seb strolled into the garage half an hour before free practice started, much earlier than he usually would, and found his team mate sat on back bench scribbling into her notebook. He walked over towards her with his hands in his coat pockets and a small smile on his face.

“Morning” It was still surprisingly cold and they were both wearing their team rain coats, and in Seanagh’s case a Ferrari beanie hat resting just above her eyebrows.

“Oh” She looked up and smiled at Seb. “Good morning, you’re a bit early”

“Well I figured if we’re going to try to win you need to be completely up to speed. And you did say before first practice” Seb leaned with his back against the bench and looked over at his team mate. “So how are your notes?” He briefly glanced down at Seanagh’s scribbled handwriting before smiling back at her.

“Alright I guess, the track info I got from the sim matches up with the circuit fine. It’s just the stadium section I’m worried about”

“The last few corners?” Seanagh nodded and rubbed a hand across her face. “It’s not that hard, if you have a look at turn twelve…”

 

Will strolled down the pit lane and stopped outside the Ferrari garage, taking a few snaps of the mechanics setting up Seb’s and Seanagh’s cars. From where he was standing Will could see his sister and her team mate at the back of her side of the garage, talking about what looked like the track given the way Seb was constantly pointing at one of Seanagh’s notebooks.

Sensing a rare opportunity Will took a few pictures of the team mates; Seanagh looking up at Seb as he explained a part of the track to her, Seb watching his team mate take notes, and one where they smiled at each other for just a second. Satisfied with his pictures Will nodded to himself before going to the end of the pit lane to take some pictures of the fans in the main grandstand.

 

“Does that help you much?”

“It helps a lot thank you”

“Happy to be of service” Seanagh quickly scribbled some last notes into her track notebook before letting out a small sigh. “Alright?” She bit on the corner of her lip and looked out in front of her; wondering if now would be a good time to tell Seb about Austin, she had been deliberately avoiding the thought of telling him about it all week. “Hey” Seb placed a gentle hand on her arm, making her look up at him. “Fancy a coffee before we get in the car?” Seanagh nodded and followed Sebastian out of the garage and back towards hospitality; at least there it was more private than the garage with no press or camera crews lurking around.  

Seanagh found an empty table in a quiet spot since Seb offered to get their espressos and placed them down on the table with a small friendly smile before taking the seat opposite her. “So… is everything okay?” Seanagh shook her head and tried to retain her composure.

“You know how I used to be engaged” She felt it was easier to say that part while looking at the table instead of Sebastian. When Seanagh did finally look at him he just gave her a small nod to carry on. “Well… I saw him, my ex, at Austin. Turns out he works for Haas now”

“Shit” Seb’s face fell; he looked incredibly sympathetic and almost stunned. He didn’t know their whole story, just that she had ended things because of his rotten family, and like Seanagh Sebastian didn’t expect them to cross paths again.

“And it’s just really, _really_ thrown me off” Seanagh buried her face in her hands. She wanted to tell Seb that she needed some space from however they were pretending to be because as nice as their friendly conversations and joking around was she wasn’t sure what she’d do if Seb gave her one more flirtatious smile. But at the same time she also wanted Seb to give her a hug and say that everything would be alright, because as many times that everyone else had said it Seanagh still didn’t quite believe it.

“If you need anything, if you want me to give you some space… then that’s okay” Seb reached over and held one of Seanagh’s hands and gave it a strong reassuring squeeze. “Just let me know” He gave her a warm caring smile as he brushed his thumb across the back of her hand.

“That’s my problem Seb” She briefly squeezed her eyes shut so she didn’t let out the sob that was caught in the back of her throat “I don’t know what I want”

“Come here” Sebastian stood up and held out his arms. Seanagh jumped out of her seat and right into the hug she so desperately wanted. Seb’s arms were tight around her, almost as if he was trying to fix her confused and slightly broken pieces back together. “He’s not here again is he?” Seb coyly kissed her temple as he asked.

“No, he has a factory job. He was just at Austin because it was the team’s home race” Seb nodded and reluctantly let Seanagh go. “I should probably head over to the garage, thanks for the coffee. And the hug” She smiled with a tiny sniffle and headed towards the stairs to grab her helmet and gloves from her driver room.

“Hey” Seb walked over to the stairs and placed a hand on her shoulder, Seanagh half turned to look at him. “If you need anything at all, and I mean anything. Just tell me” He reassured her with a small smile and rubbed her shoulder.

“I will”

 

Seanagh couldn’t have been more relieved to be back in the garage preparing for the first practice session. The usual sounds of whirring wheels guns and mechanics darting around muttering to each other in Italian was more than enough to put Seanagh firmly at ease. She let out a small sigh as she looked around the garage, she felt so content just stood there in her red overalls, despite the bad races, non-finishes and car troubles, the red garage had finally started to feel like home.

“Okay so we are going to be putting you on a different programme to Sebastian for today as was discussed. Looking at some long runs in FP1 on the mediums, after that we’ll see how that dictates the rest of our session plans. Right now we really just want to get you familiarised with the track. That all sound okay?” Dave looked at Seanagh for confirmation that the plans were all to her liking.

“Sounds good. Will we be doing some softer tyre runs today?” Her inner racer was already looking forward to some low fuel right on the limit quali runs.

“We want you up to speed on the track properly first before we think about that, okay?” Dave smiled despite speaking in a slightly stricter tone then normal. Seanagh nodded and let her engineer head back over to the pit wall; she let out a long breath of air and fixed her already tight pony tail.

“You’ll be fine piccolina. It’s just a race track” Seanagh smiled at one of her mechanics and patted them on the shoulder and said thank you before heading to the back of the garage and sat down watching the FOM feed. She looked over at Seb’s side of the garage to see her team mate talking with Antti and Riccardo. Seb glanced at Seanagh and gave her a small thumbs up mouthing a small ‘OK?’ which she smiled and nodded at.

“You might want to start getting ready” Vanessa came over as one of the engineers gave the three minute warning that Seanagh was due to be in the car. “You’ll be fine, like Stefano said, it’s just a race track, just drive off in the right direction and you’ll be fine” Seanagh pulled on her balaclava and zipped up her overalls before putting on her helmet and HANS device, and with a final pat on the shoulder from Vanessa Seanagh happily jumped in the car.

 

Seb had happily given Seanagh the space she needed for the whole day, he’d never quite seen her that shook up before and he figured that letting her be alone with her mechanics and the race track would be the best thing to do. He had just finished his last interviews with the press as second practice had finished a couple of hours ago and was walking back through the paddock with Britta, who ended up asking about his team mate.

“Seanagh looked upset this morning, is she okay?”

“Some private stuff” He didn’t want to expand any further with so many journalists milling around, the last thing Seanagh needed was to be the subject of tabloid or paddock gossip.

“Not her ex bothering her I hope” Britta replied neither looking nor sounding very amused.

“How on earth did you know about that?” Seb stopped in his tracks and gave Britta a very quizzical look.

“It’s my job to know everything Seb” He shrugged and started walking alongside her again, Vanessa or Richard must have told her. “Is she okay though?”

“I’ve tried to give her some space, see if that helps”

“Probably a very good idea” Britta smiled as she opened the door to hospitality and led Seb inside. It was the end of the day and everyone was pretty much allowed to go back to the hotel, which Sebastian was going to do, until his team mate shyly approached him.

“Hi, do you have a minute?” She was clutching on of her notebooks against her chest and was tapping her fingers against the ring bind.

“Of course” He would always spare a minute for her. Seb made sure he wasn’t standing too close and gave Seanagh a warm smile.

“I need some help with the final sector. I just couldn’t get it right today and-”

“Let me grab my notebook I’ll be just a second” Seb ran up the stairs, retrieved his small black note book and a pen from his rucksack and was back downstairs in no time at all. He went over to the main hospitality door and held it open, giving Seanagh a bright smile. “Shall we?”

 

Seanagh followed Sebastian into the cool early-evening air and they breezed through the paddock, into the garage, out and down the pit lane and onto the track walking through the grand stadium section. It was completely empty apart from them as the fans and marshals had all finally gone home.

“I don’t know what it is I just can’t string these corners together” Seanagh looked into her _‘Race Weekends’_ notebook and went back to the ‘ _Mexico – Free Practice’_ pages and looked at the times she had written down.

**_ FP1                                                FP2_ **

**_Seb:_ ** _1:20.993 (P2) **Seb** : 1:19.790 (P1)_

**_Me:_ ** _1:21.424 (P4) **Me** : 1:20.376 (P4)_

Seanagh shook her head at being five to six tenths down on her team mate and waited for Seb to find the right page in his own notebook. She hoped it was just the fact that she had never driven the track before and not because she was still distracted by what happened in Austin.

“It is tricky, turn fifteen here is really tight after the previous corner, really it all starts by having a good line coming out of turn twelve…” Seb pointed at various corners and went into detail about where Seanagh could improve pointing and using his hands to demonstrate what he meant, which she hastily wrote down while still hanging on his every word so she didn’t miss anything.  “…And well sixteen and seventeen are a lot like parabolica”

“Just need to get your foot down quickly and cross the line” Seb smiled and put his notebook back in his pocket.

“I hope that helped”

“It did, thank you” The pair smiled at each other as a cold breeze drifted through the track causing Seanagh to shiver slightly.

“Cold?” Seanagh had left hospitality without her jacket and was very much regretting it. She nodded and scrunched up her nose as a second sharper breeze swirled round the stadium section that almost cut through her skin. Seb immediately took off his jacket and held it out to Seanagh. She gladly took it and zipped it up, despite the jacket clearly being a couple of sizes too large she thoroughly appreciated the gesture, and its warmth.

“You’re too good to me” Seanagh looked down at her feet as her and Seb started to slowly walk back towards the pit lane side by side, their arms brushing against each other with every step.

“Just looking out for…” Seb paused, unsure of what term to call her by. “…my friend” Seanagh blushed and linked her arm through Seb’s. “After all if we’re going to be fast tomorrow the only person I want up there with me is you”

 

_Saturday 29 th October_

Yet again, qualifying really did not go to plan. For a yet unknown reason the switch to the faster tyre for the top ten shoot-out ended up losing Ferrari time, not gaining it, and they were set to start on the third and fourth row as Hulkenberg in the Force India managed to out qualify both red cars. Everyone at Ferrari was understandably confused. And in some cases, mainly Seb and Maurizio, very pissed off.

“So who are we speaking to then?” Richard cautiously asked his driver who was scowling at the air she walked through as they left hospitality.

“Just Lee”

“Okay” Richard quickly sent out a text to one of the Channel 4 spotters to keep an eye out for the young Brit as they slowly walked into the press pen. “I think it would be best if we spoke to Sky Italia too, just to keep the Italians happy” He asked hopefully, glancing over at Federica who had instantly noticed the red-clad pair.

“I doubt anything right now will make the Italians happy” Seanagh scoffed and shuffled her feet. Richard gave the Sky Italia crew a point and a nod before Lee became free and Seanagh made a bee line for her. The Scot looked quite startled as Seanagh almost charged towards her, waiting for Richard to catch up. Seanagh took in a deep breath as Lee asked her first question.

“Well, after the free practice sessions today, I doubt this was the qualifying you or the team wanted. Do you or Ferrari have an explanation for what happened?”

“Right now no, apart from the fact that my car had engine problems right at the end of Q2, which affected all of my laps in Q3 so even if the super softs worked on my car I wouldn’t have gotten a good enough lap anyway” Seanagh gripped her hand tightly against the metal barrier, trying to take her anger out on the object rather than Lee.

“You mentioned the tyres, just briefly, how much do you think the change from softs to the super softs affected your pace?”

“It did, a lot in Q3 anyway. I don’t know we’ll have a lot of meetings tonight and see what we can come up with for tomorrow” With Seanagh’s short answer, Richard led her to the Sky Italia crew where the interview was just as brief before Seanagh left the press pen, now feeling slightly guilty about her clipped responses after beginning to calm down. She pulled her cap down over her eyes and unknowingly walked right past the Channel 4 crew whilst they were live on air.

“To be honest I think it’s shameful that only one of their drivers would speak to us after today, I mean what about all the Ferrari fans in the UK, surely they have a right to know what’s going on” Eddie Jordan’s comments still stung minutes after she had heard them, and they weren’t even aimed at her. Once Seanagh was back in the ‘safety’ of the Ferrari building she let out a deep sigh and sat down at one of the back tables.

As soon as she sat down Seanagh took off her cap and rested her head on the table and tried to pull herself together for the engineers debrief. Richard took sympathy on his downbeat driver and rubbed the top part of her arm and sighed, not really having any comforting words to say.

 

It was late, very late. Seanagh had been in bed for hours and yet still hadn’t fallen asleep. She sat up with a sigh and looked at the time on her phone. 11.35pm. Maybe it was the bad qualifying combined with the fact she might have still been reeling from the shock of seeing her ex not even a week ago, but she just couldn’t sleep. And her worrying because the race was tomorrow was making it worse.

She got up out of bed and pulled on a hoodie from her suitcase and stuffed her phone and keycard in her pockets before leaving her room and going for a walk around the hotel in the hope that it would tire her out enough to sleep. After fifteen minutes of walking up and down stairs and sadly discovering that every floor was the same Seanagh found herself sat on a leather armchair next to the lift on the sixth floor staring at her phone screen reading the same text over and over again.

_I’m really sorry about quali. If you need anything then feel free to come see me, I won’t mind_

As it was now nearing midnight Seb would probably be asleep and there was no way she’d risk waking him up and potentially pissing him off before a race. But, as fate seemed to be having it this year, Seb found her as he came out of one of the lifts.

“This isn’t your floor”

“I can’t sleep”

“Join the club” Sebastian sighed and sat on the chair next to her and looked at his watch with a frown. “Austin still bothering you?” Seanagh shrugged and tapped her phone against her leg; she didn’t say anything about possibly wanting some company. “Do you want to talk about it?”

“What is there to talk about?” Seanagh huffed and watched as Sebastian left his seat and crouched down in front of her, he placed a hand on her forearm and said nothing at all for a moment.

“You just… seem really upset about it. I just want to know if you’re okay” Seanagh bit down on her bottom lip and smiled a little. Grateful for how Seb seemed to care, how he always seemed to care.

“I just…” Seanagh bundled her hands into the ends of her sleeves with a small sniffle. She went to speak but ended up bursting into tears instead, she’d kept her emotions bottled up for the past week, because she felt that if she allowed herself to wallow about the past people would notice and she wouldn’t have that because the mood in the team was bad enough given how the second half of the season was going.

And then there was Seb, who had just acted as if everything between him and Seanagh was normal so Seanagh had just allowed herself to get lost in that instead. She tried not to laugh when the irony of her situation hit her, her ex-boyfriend turned team mate comforting Seanagh who was still upset over seeing her ex-fiancé for the first time in years. Sebastian still hadn’t said anything; he had just let Seanagh lean forward and cry into his shoulder, only rubbing her back gently.

“It’s going to be okay” Seb gently spoke in her ear. Seanagh forced herself to sit up and she wiped at her eyes with her sleeves, taking a few deep breaths to calm herself before she spoke.

“I spoke to him after the race and he just wasn’t the same person I remembered. Now that I think about it he was probably looking for a quick fuck since he had gotten divorced the week before the race. That… that wasn’t the man who proposed to me”

“I know I’m biased, but he’s a fucking dickhead” Seanagh nodded with a small laugh. Tom Berkley was a fucking dickhead (or had became one) and at long last Seanagh felt a little bit happy knowing he wasn’t a part of her life anymore. She looked at Seb, who was still giving her a comforting smile, his hand now resting on her arm.

“Could I stay with you tonight?” She asked, there wasn’t much left of their so called professional barrier anyway, plus she had slept so well after the race in Belgium, and when Seanagh had shared Seb’s bed with him on her last night in Switzerland. Truth be told she always felt so comfortable around her team mate. Sebastian just gave a small nod and smiled.

“If it helps us sleep then of course you can” Seb gently kissed Seanagh’s forehead before he got up off the floor and briefly held her hand as she got up from her seat before placing his arm round her waist as he led Seanagh down the corridor towards his room. He opened the door and let Seanagh in first so he could swiftly place the do not disturb sign on the door handle. They both silently got into the white double bed after Seb took off only his jeans and placed their phones on the bedside table before Sebastian switched off the lights. “Night Seanagh”

“Night Seb” They lay with their backs facing each other nestled under the duvet. While Seanagh felt reassured knowing she wasn’t spending the night alone she still couldn’t sleep after ten minutes. She rolled over onto her back and ran her hands across her face and glanced over to her team mate who she could just about see in the darkness, the faintest of city lights seeping through a small gap in the curtains. Seb was lying on his back with one hand on his chest and his head turned to the side, he was breathing so quietly that Seanagh couldn’t tell if he was asleep or not. When his head turned to face her and his eyes were wide open they both looked at each other and frowned.

“Come here” Seanagh breathed a sigh of relief as she snuggled herself into Sebastian’s side. She rested her head on his shoulder and lay a hand on his chest which Seb held without question. Sebastian tenderly kissed her forehead, and took a breath as if he was going to say something, but he just sighed and rested his head against hers instead. They both finally fell asleep within minutes.

 

_Sunday 30th October_

“Um guys… you do know this is going to bring me out _behind_ Hulkenberg, right?” Seanagh calmly messaged the team as she toddled down the pit lane to head back onto the circuit after a sudden second stop onto a one lap used set of mediums. The race had been so uneventful, and even if Seanagh had been running further down the order than she’d like to be, she was so grateful for it.

“Yes we know, we think it could be better to attack with fresher tyres than defend on old ones”

“Alrighty then, you’re the boss Mister Greenwood”

 

_“It’s amazing how calm she sounds a lot of the time; you wouldn’t think she’s in the middle of a Grand Prix would you?”_

_“Bear in mind she has had a few moments this year, in her battles with Verstappen”_

_“And speaking of Verstappen… it looks like Vettel is closing up to the back of him… and Ricciardo’s closing in on the pair of them”_

_“Yeah this could get very tasty, we could see a really great battle for the podium here…”_

Seanagh’s parents watched the TV sat right on the edge of the sofa holding each other’s hands tightly. It was approaching the end of the race and neither Seanagh nor Sebastian had managed to overtake the cars they were racing. Then all of a sudden on lap sixty eight the race descended into near chaos for the Ferrari drivers. Seanagh pulled a borderline aggressive move on Hulkenberg for sixth place, while Sebastian had unfortunately found himself in a Red Bull sandwich.

First Verstappen went off the circuit, then Ricciardo tried going up Vettel’s inside only to be squeezed going into the next corner with their rear tyres almost locked together, both drivers were lucky they didn’t go into a spin into the barriers.

Mark gave a loud yelp to stop himself from cursing and Mary simply pulled a face and shook her head, she was of the opinion that Seanagh herself had raced better in her late teens. But of course she would think that.

“Verstappen has to let Sebastian past surely” Mark scoffed; he still wasn’t particularly keen on the young Dutchman after – in his view – he’d tried to ram his daughter off the track in Budapest.

_“Okay Max we may have to give the place back”_

“There we go, one Ferrari on the podium. Thank goodness for that” Mark sighed and leaned back into the sofa. After half a lap Mary suddenly realised something and frowned.

“He won’t give up his position” She scoffed and shook her head again, her eyes fixed on the TV screen.

“What do you mean, he has to he went of the circuit! That’s the unspoken rule of racing, when you illegally gain a position you’re supposed to give it back” When Verstappen didn’t give the position back as expected Sebastian went into a curse filled rant over team radio before finishing in fourth place, and telling Charlie Whiting to eff off in the process. “Oh dear…”

“Either he’s going to regret saying that or someone’s going to regret broadcasting that” About thirty seconds after Hamilton had crossed the finish line Channel 4 went to an advert break and Seanagh’s parents both let out a long and relieved sigh. “At least Seanagh finished in the points” The second half of the season had become so dismal so quickly both Mark and Mary tried to take as many positives from each race as they could.

“Yeah, she deserved that after all the crap that happened yesterday” Mark shook his head and frowned. “Do you want to watch the podium or will I stick the news on?” He leaned forward and picked up the TV remote from the coffee table as Channel 4 returned from their ad break, and the first thing they saw was Verstappen being told to leave the podium room and Sebastian taking his place.

Both Mark and Mary gave a small cheer, neither of them would have dreamed of cheering for Sebastian, let alone for a Ferrari getting on the podium at someone else’s expense. But Ferrari was their daughter’s team now, and whether they liked it or not Sebastian was her team mate, so now at least they would happily cheer for their successes because what else could they do?

 

“I swear if we’ve missed this…” Seanagh ran with Richard out of the pit lane and towards the stadium section in the hope she would make it in time for the podium celebrations. Luckily she saw Lewis being given his trophy and Seanagh near-sprinted to wear Maurizio was standing. “Hi boss” Seanagh grinned as she saw Seb standing in third place, and cheered when he ran forward with his trophy and thrusted it high into the air.

Seb scanned the red crowd from the podium, and the first person he saw was his team mate. He pointed to her and then to the trophy, as if to say it was as much Seanagh’s as it was his, and with a skip and a beaming smile he returned to the podium as his mechanics cheered the loudest of them all.

“I’m sorry I couldn’t be up there too” Seanagh winced as Maurizio clapped his driver on the shoulder a little bit too hard, as well as not having the satisfaction of not adding another trophy to the collection at Maranello.

“Don’t worry about it; it’s not your fault. We will just have to try in Brazil. Now go, you should probably do your interviews” Seanagh nodded and began to walk away with Richard, before briefly spinning round and shouting ‘Go Seb!’ at the top of her lungs before jogging back towards the paddock with Richard with a beaming smile on her face.

 

A few hours after the race had ended Seanagh found herself on her flight back to London; Ferrari’s post-race celebrations had been soured somewhat by Seb receiving a penalty for some kind of incident with Ricciardo in the final few laps that had ended up dropping him off the podium into fifth place.

“Oh well, at least I have nice company” Seanagh looked from her ticket, to the overhead seat number, to Sebastian, who was looking up at her from the window seat. Seanagh sighed and sat down, placing a hand on his arm, he must have been getting a second flight from London to Zurich.

“If it makes you feel better that penalty was complete bull” Seb just shrugged and looked out the small window. “Well I spoke to Mum and Dad after the race and they asked me to tell you that they’re sorry you lost out on third, and that it was nice to at least see you up on the podium”

“Thanks” Sebastian sounded surprised at the message for his team mate’s parents but he still gladly accepted it. “Is Will somewhere?”

“He got a slightly earlier flight, not sure why but it’s what Ferrari could scrape together” Seanagh shrugged and began to look through her large handbag. “But he did ask me to give you this” She gave him the small object she thankfully found, Sebastian laughed at the small plastic silver trophy that was barely bigger than his hand.

“I don’t know what I’ve done to make your family be so nice to me” Seanagh just shrugged and sent a quick text to Will and her parents before switching of her phone for the twelve hour flight back home.


	28. Accidental

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> One mistake can have so many repercussions

_Thursday 10 th November – Autódromo José Carlos Pace, São Paulo_

The track was so quiet on the press day, as it so often was. Most teams had done their track walks as soon as they arrived as there was a high risk of rain in the early afternoon. Seanagh had decided she wanted to do a second walk of the track alone, mainly for a chance to clear her head and to get a good uninterrupted look of the track. She quietly walked through the pit lane and ran into Ted Kravitz and a few camera people from Sky on the way.

“Afternoon Seanagh” He looked at the notebook in her hand and raised an eyebrow. “Going for another walk of the circuit?”

“Just want to make sure I’m up to speed” Seanagh gave him a polite smile and wished the small Sky crew a pleasant afternoon before walking out onto the circuit after climbing over the wall that separated the pit lane from the track as she had already walked the pit lane exit. She stood on the apex of turn one and let out a long sigh. Brazil easily had one of the most stunning circuits purely because the vast amount of history that had taken place there was burned into paddock memory. Seanagh walked slowly along the track, making sure to walk both on and off the racing line just to get a clear idea of what it would be like when she was in the car.

She hadn’t seen much of Seb when she arrived at the circuit; it seemed he was still intent on giving Seanagh some space after what she had told him in Mexico, a part of her wished he would stop giving her space long enough for them to have a decent conversation, amongst other things.

As she walked up the hill towards turn six there was a quiet purr of an engine coming towards her. She moved to the far side of the track in case it was the safety car doing another track inspection but when the noise stopped right by her she turned and looked to see Sebastian sat on a white scooter.

“What are you doing here?” Seanagh raised an eyebrow at her team mate.

“I could ask you the same question” Seb joked with a cheeky grin, he was wearing a silver helmet and had a black once perched on his lap. “I was told to come get you”

“Why?” Seb pointed over Seanagh’s shoulder towards some dark clouds that didn’t look too far away.

“Rain’s coming” Seb held out the spare helmet. “And we can’t have you getting soaked” Sebastian’s warm smile was enough to melt Seanagh’s resolve and she placed the helmet on her head and tightly did up the chin strap. Seb offered to put her notebook in the pockets of his shorts, which she reluctantly handed over. “I’m afraid you’ll have to hold on to me” Seanagh rolled her eyes with a smirk and climbed onto the back of the scooter. She cautiously but tightly wrapped her arms around Seb’s waist and picked her feet up off the tarmac.

“You can go now” Sebastian had deliberately waited a few seconds to make sure Seanagh was properly on the scooter before slowly moving away. Seanagh raised an eyebrow at how slow Seb was going, not much faster than walking pace, and she was going to question him about it when he suddenly picked up speed and raced down the hill out of turn eight. Seanagh screamed in fright and clung onto Seb even tighter, she could feel him laugh as they neared the entrance to the pit lane. “You are absolutely terrible”

“Just practicing for Sunday” She couldn’t see his face, but Seanagh was certain that Seb was grinning as they entered the pit lane and stopped right outside the Ferrari garage. Seanagh jumped off the scooter and ruffled her hair once she took off her helmet as she was due to be filming some TV interviews later on.

“Thanks for the lift” Seanagh gave Seb the spare helmet back and walked with him the long way into the paddock since he couldn’t take his scooter through the garage. “How was the press conference this morning?” Seanagh tried not to think about how some of the drivers in the paddock where giving the Ferrari team mates a strange look as she walked alongside Seb and his scooter.

“Oh you know… the usual”

“Seanagh what have I told you about not trusting boys on scooters” Seanagh and Seb both looked around them feeling slightly startled to see Mia walking towards them. “Hello Seb”

“Hello Mia, before you ask it wasn’t my idea”

“Oh _really_ ” Mia folded her arms across her chest with a small smirk. She went to say something to Seanagh when Richard came jogging towards them saying that Seanagh was running late for an interview and she was dragged off before she could say anything and only managed a quick wave.

 

Mia sighed at the sight of her friend and shook her head before looking over at Sebastian with a raised eyebrow. “So” The broad grin that had been on Seb’s face had faded into a polite smile.

“Is this where you tell me to back off or something?” Mia was slightly taken aback by how blunt Seb sounded.

“No, what either or you do in your own time is your business” Mia shrugged and took a small step forward towards the Ferrari driver. “I was actually going to ask if you and her were getting on alright”

“I thought you didn’t like me” Seb scoffed.

“What you said in Spain and Austria changed my mind, besides you’re not a cocky little shit now you’ve left Red Bull so I guess you’re alright” Sebastian laughed and smiled at Mia. “Take care of yourself Seb, good luck this weekend” Mia looked at her watch and decided it was time to leave. Seb gave her a small wave before he finally reached the Ferrari hospitality and left his scooter outside before dashing indoors.

 

_Sunday 13 th November_

Come race day the sky was very dark, heavy rain was falling in the paddock and had been for a good half hour. Some people were wondering if the race would even go ahead as the weather was only set to get worse for the rest of the race, but since the circuit was built with heavy rain in mind everyone assumed it was business as usual. It was hard for Seanagh to not go back and think about Monaco, when she’d made such a simple mistake because she hadn’t raced in the wet for so long.

“Hey” Seb sat down opposite his team mate who had her hands wrapped around a mug of tea.

“Hi” Seanagh glanced up at him before going back to looking out the window, watching the rain fall against the glass.

“It won’t be like Monaco, in these conditions anyone to judge you would be mad”

“Thanks Seb” She just about managed a smile as she looked at him. Footsteps neared their small table, neither of them looked to see who it was.

“Is everything alright?” Both drivers looked up at Maurizio startled, the looks on their faces giving their boss an adequate response. “Just come back to the garage safe, both of you. We can worry about the number of points afterwards” Both Seanagh and Sebastian nodded, before composing themselves enough so they could walk over to the garage. Albeit under the same umbrella.

 

“Okay, they’ve delayed the start by ten minutes. Grosjean just binned it in the wall at the last corner on his way over, he’s completely fine”

“Quite pissed I could imagine” Dave didn’t say anything, and looked up at the sky. “So I guess it’ll be a safety car start then?”

“We’re waiting on the official word from Charlie before we fit the wets” Seanagh nodded, and looked around her, all of the cars were under tents, and the rain was continuing to splash on the track with no sign of stopping. “If it doesn’t let up they’ll have to red flag it at some point”

“If we get to lap seventy one it’ll be a miracle” Seanagh sighed and shook her head, words from her pre-race phone call home replaying themselves over and over in her head, just telling her to be safe.

“You’ll be fine Seanagh, I promise you” Dave placed a hand on his driver’s shoulder, giving her his best reassuring smile. “I don’t care where you finish today, just get back to the garage safe and sound with a clean bill of health and a full head of hair” Seanagh nodded, and finally began to focus on the race.

 

By lap twenty the race was set to get underway again as Hamilton bunched up the grid after the long safety car period. The rain was still falling, only slightly lighter than before. But considering the drivers could all actually see the red flashing light on the car in front at long last it wasn’t too bad.

“Okay Seanagh the safety car is in, go no-” Just as Seanagh got the message from Dave, she suddenly felt her rear tyres stop spinning, and she aquaplaned off into the right hand wall as she came out of the last corner and onto the main straight and was launched into a rapid spin. She had absolutely no control over the car and braced herself for whenever her Ferrari would stop moving. She spun and spun through the rain down the start-finish straight and she eventually crashed into the pit wall not once but twice as the Ferrari was flicked into a second small but much faster spin sending carbon fibre fragments everywhere as the front wing and nosecone disintegrated.

Seanagh didn’t realise she had shut her eyes during the crash and when she opened them she very quickly realised that she was facing the rest of the field as they drove past her through the spray. She flinched when one of the Manors skimmed past her at near enough two hundred miles an hour.

It took a few seconds for Seanagh to regain control of her breathing and realise that she needed to switch off the car when Maurizio came on over the radio.

“Can you hear me Seanagh? Are you okay?” He sounded worried, extremely so.

“Y-yeah. I’m okay boss” Maurizio replied in a quiet stream of Italian before telling Seanagh that the race had been red flagged, and that she needed to get out of the car quickly.

She switched off the engine and fumbled with her seatbelts and managed to jump out of her slightly broken Ferrari. Seanagh climbed over the pit wall and through a small gap in the fence where one of the guys from Force India left his seat to make sure she was alright when Jock Clear arrived to take his driver back to the garage. She gave a small wave to the fans and TV cameras to let them know she was alright before her mechanics all greeted Seanagh with sighs of relief and glad pats on the shoulder.

 

“This is terrible!” Seb remarked at the conditions over the radio as he tried his best to look through the spray as the safety car pulled into the pits. The first thing he saw was a red car spinning off into the wall which he just about managed to avoid; apart from himself there was only one other red car in the grid. All the air seemed to catch in Seb’s throat and he could barely speak. “I… I nearly drove into Seanagh on the straight, can’t see anything” It was about half a minute before Riccardo said anything over the radio.

“Red flag Sebastian, red flag” Those words sparked an awful chill down Seb’s back.

“Is she okay? Please tell me she’s okay?!” The words hurriedly left his mouth as Seb slowed the car down so he didn’t aquaplane off the track himself as he slowly made his way back to the pits.

“Piccolina’s fine… she’s just got out of the car” Sebastian sighed with relief and muttered quietly under his breath, hopefully quiet enough that any commentators wouldn’t hear what he said.

 

Seanagh eventually took off her helmet when she was at the back of the garage and instantly sat on the floor, her knees pulled up against her chest. She closed her eyes and took slow and deep breaths to get her heartrate down and hopefully stop her head from spinning. After a minute or two she felt calm enough to stand up, and by that point the cars were coming back into the pits. She saw a flash of Ferrari red go past the garage and Seanagh sighed with relief before putting her team raincoat on.

“Piccolina, are you alright?” Maurizio rushed through the garage to his driver and placed a hand on her shoulder.

“Better now than what I was a few minutes ago” Maurizio nodded and briefly hugged his driver before going back to the pit wall. Seanagh looked up at the screen above her that showed drivers getting out of their cars and diving into their garages to get out of the rain.

“Excuse me… Move!” Seanagh turned at the sound of Seb’s worried voice to see him cross the distance from the front of the garage to where Seanagh was stood in a few long strides and he enveloped her in his arms. He held her tightly and gently kissed all over the side of her head and buried his nose in her hair. “I nearly crashed into you” He leaned back and longingly looked into her eyes and brushed a thumb across her cheek. “I nearly…” Seb’s voice cracked and tears began to well in his bright blue eyes.

“Shhh” Seanagh placed a steady hand on his chest, keeping her gaze locked with his. “It’s okay, I’m okay”

“I love you” Seb pulled Seanagh into a tight embrace again and held her close. Seanagh gasped and tried to think of what to say (apart from the obvious). When she was about to speak she saw Maurizio stride over towards the two team mates from the front of the garage, Seanagh quickly and very reluctantly pushed Seb off her and looked around her. For whatever reason both of Seanagh’s and Seb’s mechanics had formed a wall around them, with a few stragglers milling around so no one would take much notice.

Maurizio shook his head and looked down at his two drivers, Seb still looked slightly distressed and Seanagh was clearly trying to process both the crash and that her team mate just said he loved her.

He loved her. She had been wondering it for a while but hearing him say it again after so long felt like such a huge shock to the system.

“You” Maurizio looked directly at Seanagh. “Will go and see the press” Seanagh nodded, partially out of fear at what her boss would say. “And you” He turned to Sebastian and put a hand on his shoulder. “Will stay here and get ready for the restart” Richard appeared and fitted Seanagh with her cap and led her out towards the press pen, having seen the entire encounter with Antti from the back of the garage.

“I am in so much trouble…” Seanagh bit her lip and sheltered from the rain under Richard’s Ferrari umbrella.

 

Sebastian watched as Seanagh and Richard left the garage, he glanced over at Antti who slowly walked towards him with Seb’s drinks bottle in hand. Unsurprisingly his trainer looked rather shocked.

“Good to see that she’s okay” Antti gave Seb a small smile; he had seen and heard everything. It was going to take an awful lot of explaining and Seb didn’t even know where to start. “Go on, like Maurizio said you need to focus on the restart” The Finn patted Seb on the shoulder and the driver nervously made his way over to his engineers who were trying to act like they hadn’t seen anything unusual at all.

 

Seanagh sighed with relief when Lewis met the chequered flag, meaning that the race was finally over. From where she had ended up sitting on the pit wall she carefully placed her headset down and sheepishly went back into the garage to properly see the results. Seb had finished in fifth place, and since Jolyon had crashed out that was the only result Seanagh cared about.

After a few minutes Seb and Margherita returned to the garage safe and sound, albeit a bit wet as the rain still hadn’t let off. Seanagh waited at her side of the garage, pretending to engrossed herself in the race results, a small part of her hoped that Seb would come over and say something.

“Hey team mate” He spoke softly and waited for Seanagh to turn round before hugging her. Seanagh sighed and held onto him tightly breathing in the smell of the rain on his overalls. “I lo-”

“Seb…” Seanagh leaned back and raised her eyebrows. “Not in front of the mechanics” She gestured to them with a small tilt of their head. Pretty much all of Seanagh’s mechanics were pretending not to look at the two drivers and were stood in a huddle quietly whispering amongst themselves. “Go, get changed. The press probably want to see you”

“Well the feeling isn’t exactly mutual” Britta appeared from nowhere wielding Seb’s cap, a raincoat and an umbrella. “See you” He smiled at Seanagh before being led out of the garage. She sighed and looked back up at the timing screens.

“Piccolina” Emilio quietly approached her, and she greeted her number one mechanic with a small smile. “Your…” He paused and looked behind him, the rest of Seanagh’s mechanics nodding at him to carry on. “We didn’t see anything” Seanagh’s face broke out into a smile and she briefly looked at the ground before walking over to her mechanics. She took in a deep breath before muttering a small but heartfelt thank you.

“You won a race; you’re loyal to the team. Why shouldn’t we be loyal to you?” Seanagh just smiled again not really knowing what to say.

“Excuse me” Maurizio’s voice boomed through the garage, causing everyone to stand up straight and look mildly terrified. “We have to be out of here in four hours, let’s get to work. Seanagh, I would like you to come with me” Seanagh nervously followed her boss out of the garage; Maurizio hardly ever called Seanagh by name, only when it was serious. She was, as she had feared, probably in an awful lot of trouble.

 

“What’s this?! What about the rest of my interviews?”

“Turns out they’re done” Britta was being unusually quiet as they returned to the team hospitality building. Sebastian didn’t notice they were heading towards Maurizio’s office until he was standing in it alone. “You’ve to wait here, they should be here soon” Britta gave Seb a hopeful smile before closing the door. After which he cursed loudly in German and sat down on one of the two seats opposite Maurizio’s desk.

He used the time waiting to plan out all the different scenarios in his head about all the different ways him and Seanagh could get fired or verbally castrated. Or both. Eventually Seb’s team mate and his boss walked in together, the look on Seanagh’s face mirroring how Seb felt. He gave her the best reassuring look that he could before they both sat up and looked straight at their boss.

 

All manner of thoughts were running through Seanagh’s head, mainly a press release stating that her and the team were set to part ways before Abu Dhabi for uncited reasons. She was unknowingly writing it quite harshly in her head. Maurizio sighed, tapping both ends of a pen against the desk.

“Well…” He looked at both his drivers and shook his head. “One moment” Maurizio pulled his phone from his pocket and left the office, leaving Seanagh and Seb feeling both confused and slightly terrified.

“What do we do?” Seanagh looked at Seb; they were both filled with so much worry.

“I guess we tell him” Seb started tapping his foot against the floor and bit down on his lip. “It’s not going to look good if we lie is it?” Seanagh briefly reached across and squeezed one of his hands before Maurizio walked back in, his phone already back in his pocket.

“So” He sat down and clasped his hands together. “Now that you have had a few minutes to decide what story you are going to tell me, I would like to hear it. I can only hope it’s the truth” Maurizio looked so disappointed, he had a heavy frown on his face and his eyebrows had knotted themselves together.

“I…” Seanagh went to speak but quickly closed her mouth; the truth was so complicated that she didn’t know where to start.

“Are you sleeping with each other?”

“No” Seanagh replied.

“Are you in a relationship?” Seb shook his head. Maurizio turned to look at the lead driver and scowled. “Then what made you say what you said in the garage?” Seanagh couldn’t bear to see Maurizio staring at Seb the way he was, and right now she’d gladly take some of the heat off him.

“Seb and me… we _were_ in a relationship, for about a year. Seb broke it off not long after he had agreed to come here, to Ferrari” Maurizio leaned back in his chair and titled his head. “Only, it didn’t exactly end in the best way and…” Seanagh paused has her voice started to crack, she cleared her throat and continued. “Because we’ve had to be around each other so often I guess some feelings have ended up re-surfacing”

“Is this true, what she had said?” Maurizio glared at Seb who gave a small nod.

“Yes” Their boss frowned and muttered something under his breath in Italian before looking up at his drivers.

“Go, we will talk about this next week” Neither Seanagh or Seb moved, both stunned that for now at least Maurizio wasn’t going to be addressing the matter further. With some non-verbal encouragement Seanagh led the way out of Maurizio’s office and towards her thankfully empty driver room.

Seb followed her and once the door was shut they both fell into each other’s arms in a very heated kiss, Seanagh moved so she was leaning against the massage table so she didn’t run the risk of Seb knocking her over.

“Oh Seb” Seanagh breathed as Seb’s lips slowly moved along her jaw, their hands intertwined as they rested their foreheads together. “I love you” Seanagh whispered against Seb’s lips and softly kissed him again. Perhaps the shock of spinning out and seeing the entire grid narrowly avoid her had finally hit her, or maybe the part of her that wanted Seb to stay that morning in Belgium had taken hold. Either way she never ever wanted Seb to leave her side ever again. “Don’t…” Seanagh’s voice cracked and Seb gently slid his hands down to her waist.

“I’m not going anywhere”

 

Antti had been pacing up and down his hotel room for the past few minutes; Richard, Britta and Vanessa were all sat on the end of the bed keeping their eyes trained in the Finn waiting for him to say something.

“It was so weird, the way they acted in the garage. It was like… I mean you guys will call me crazy but…” Antti awkwardly laughed while the trio shared an awkward look. “Wait” Antti had finally caught them looking sheepish and raised an eyebrow; one massive penny had finally dropped in his mind. “You guys know something I don’t”

“You’ve known him longest Britta” Richard sighed through slightly gritted teeth. “You’d probably be the best one to tell him” Britta frowned, she had known for a long time she would have to tell Antti eventually, and she had hoped it would be in slightly easier circumstances. Antti looked at her with a frown and shrugged.

“Well?”

“Seb and Seanagh dated for a while, a year actually” Antti’s face went so pale with shock everyone through he would faint. He looked at the three of them opened mouthed with raised eyebrows, that one sentence explained so much about the two drivers. And he seriously wondered just why or how he hadn’t noticed anything between them before “Between 2013 and 2014. Seb didn’t want to tell you because-”

“He wanted to be sure he could trust me” Antti sighed and shook his head and somehow managed to find a spot on the corner of the bed to sit on. He wasn’t completely surprised at Seb not telling him, but even so it was a big thing to keep from someone. Let alone your personal trainer. “Wait so this was when they were at different teams?”

“Yeah, when Seanagh was at McLaren and Seb was at Red Bull” Richard sighed, at least no one had anything to keep from each other anymore.

“And now they’re at the same team they…” Antti paused. “What are they to each other now exactly?” Vanessa huffed and just shrugged.

“Fuck knows”


	29. No Such Thing As Before

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> So... Where to go from here?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My silly half-asleep self forgot to mention with the previous chapter that Brazil was another two parter, first part was the previous one and here is part two!

_Monday 14th November – Sao Paulo_

They had slept together again. Neither of them cared about going to any post-race parties or socialising with anyone from the team. After a god awful race and having avoided a more sincere conversation with Maurizio neither of them had wanted to be with anyone else doing anything else.

As always, Seb had woken first. He and Seanagh had been in such a rush the night before that they had forgotten to draw the curtains, meaning that while Seb’s room was thankfully high enough that nobody could have seen them he also had a view to look at while Seanagh was still asleep. He didn’t care for the view at all and had always gone back to looking at Seanagh after a few seconds. Seb moved her hair out of her face so it wasn’t tickling her eyes or nose, and was slowly and gently running the tips of his fingers up and down her back and he carefully leaned down to kiss her head that had been resting on his shoulder. At some point Seanagh stirred and she moved her head ever so slightly to kiss Seb’s collar bone.

“Good morning” She looked up and smiled at him. There had been a point yesterday, when the race had been red flagged because of her crash, when he thought he would never see that smile again, it was the most horrible few seconds he had gone through.

“Morning” Seb wrapped his free arm around her and hugged Seanagh tightly, yesterday was still a little too fresh in his mind for comfort.

“Hey, look at me” Seb loosened his arms and allowed Seanagh to prop herself up with one arm and place her other hand on his chest, gently brushing her thumb across his skin. “We’re going to be okay” A small part of Seb’s mind strongly doubted that. She leaned down and softly kissed him, it seemed to make most of his worries go away.

“I hadn’t seen you crash before yesterday” Seb blurted out, biting down on his lip as soon as he’d said it. “I just-” His voice cracked and Seanagh started peppering kisses all over his face.

“I know Seb” Seanagh sighed as she ran a hand through his hair. “You were terrified and worried and-” She looked over her shoulder at her phone that had started buzzing again; she picked it up to check the time and let out a long sigh. “Richard and Vanessa are looking for me” Seb frowned and sat up. “I need to go” Seb bit his lip and hugged Seanagh tightly before she slid out of bed and quickly got dressed. He reluctantly pulled on last night’s shirt and jeans and walked with her to the door.

“I’ll see you at the airport” He had his hands on her waist as he kissed her forehead. Neither Seanagh nor Seb jumped away when Britta walked in, however her slightly disapproving sigh caused Seanagh to leave without saying a word. Seb put his hands in his pockets and looked at Britta who just shook her head.

“Have you packed yet?”

“No” Sebastian mumbled in reply.

“Well we’re supposed to be leaving in twenty minutes so I strongly suggest that you should”

 

Seanagh walked out of the lift and onto her floor and quickly made her way towards her room. When Vanessa and Richard saw her they both sighed with relief before they started firing questions at her.

“Where were you?”

“We’ve been texting and calling you all morning and you didn’t pick up once do you have any idea how worried we were?” Seanagh didn’t reply and opened the door wide enough for them to follow her in, thankfully Richard quickly closed the door behind him.

“You could have at least-”

“I was with Seb okay?!” Seanagh turned round and almost shouted at her trainer and press officer who both went silent. “And I wasn’t able to text you if you catch my drift” She shifted her gaze to the ground as she felt her cheeks slowly flush red.

“Oh” Richard shared a surprised look with Vanessa as Seanagh went to make sure she had everything in her suitcase. She zipped it shut and buried her face in her hands while no one in the room really knew what to say to each other.

“Look I’m sorry I just…”

“No, no. It’s okay” Richard looked incredibly sheepish as he spoke. “I hope we haven’t er… ruined your morning”

“Oh my god, Richard!” Vanessa whacked him on the shoulder as his phone started to ring from his pocket.

“Hi Britta” Richard took a few steps away and had the conversation quietly on the far side of the room.

“Seriously though… sorry if we disturbed you”

“We would’ve had to leave anyway” Seanagh sighed, she would have been grateful for even an extra few seconds with Seb. She hauled her suitcase off the end of the bed and looked in her shoulder bag and glanced around the room making sure that she had everything.

“Okay… Seanagh’s ready so we’ll be down in a few. Bye” Richard pocketed his phone and looked at his two colleagues. “Car’s here” Seanagh, Seb and their entourages had agreed earlier on in the week to share a car to the airport since they were all on the same flight out of Brazil. “I promise I won’t say anything awkward” Richard held his hands up as Vanessa got the door; they had left their bags outside unattended when Seanagh had arrived. Thankfully they were still by the door and the trio hauled their luggage over to the lift which they took to the ground floor and they went over to reception to check out of their rooms.

When Seanagh finally saw Seb they both shared a brief and slightly awkward look. Everyone was silent in the hire minivan, even Antti who had been completely oblivious to everything that happened between the Ferrari team mates in the past had seen their exchange in the garage the day before.

“So…” The Finn spoke in an attempt to diffuse the tension in the car. “Everyone have a good night last night?” Although Britta had decided to keep him in the dark about the specifics of Seanagh and Seb’s post-race activities it seemed.

“Antti!” Britta, Vanessa and Richard all shouted at him in disapproval, with the latter hitting him on the arm.

“I can’t believe someone beat Rich to saying something inappropriate” Seanagh joked which caused Seb to chuckle. Britta seemed to sigh with relief that people were at least talking and after that both the journey to the airport and the flight to Italy was thankfully made a lot easier.

 

_Wednesday 16th November - Maranello_

Since everyone had arrived back from Brazil either late on Monday night or early on Tuesday morning no meetings had taken place until everyone was back in the country. The day had started off normally, engineering meetings that lasted slightly longer than usual before Maurizio had almost ordered his drivers to be at different parts of the factory for the entire morning. Seanagh had been in the simulator while Sebastian had spoken to just about every department in the factory twice to see how they were doing on work for the 2017 car.

It wasn’t until lunch that the drivers were in the same room, but their personal staff had ensured they were sat at different tables far away from each other.

“I assume Maurizio is trying to send us a message” Seanagh looked between Vanessa and Richard who both looked equally guilty. It seemed, Maurizio actually hadn’t taken her and Seb’s admission very well at all.

“He wants to speak to you both after lunch. At the same time before you ask” Seanagh didn’t reply and simply ate another forkful of her lunch. “Just be civil, he is our boss”

“Oh I’ll be very civil” Seanagh finished her lunch and pushed away her plate. “I’m more concerned about him” She angrily remarked as she left her table and went straight up towards Maurizio’s office. Hurried footsteps followed her and she flinched at the feeling of someone taking hold of her hand. “I-” Seanagh turned round and saw Seb, who looked about as angry and confused as she was. Quietly they headed up to Maurizio’s office together and dropped each other’s hands somewhere along the way.

Sebastian was the one to knock on the door and Maurizio’s voice boomed through the wood signalling that they could come in. He stayed sat at his desk and didn’t stand up or shake either of his driver’s hands as he usually did. Instead he seemed to scowl at both of them and didn’t offer them a chair to sit down on.

After a minute or two of silence the Italian sighed and tapped his fingers against his desk.

“If you’re going to fire me now would be a good time to say” Seanagh almost spat the words out of her mouth. She had always been told since her first day that Ferrari was a serious racing team and that everyone had to act a certain way to maintain the team’s image, and to her at least their drivers admitting to a previous romantic relationship didn’t sound like Ferrari approved behaviour.

“No one is getting fired Seanagh” Maurizio huffed and leaned back in his chair and began to fiddle with his wedding ring. At that point Stefania walked in to give Maurizio some paperwork before quickly leaving, giving both drivers a small smile as she left. “I just don’t know what I can say” He looked between Seanagh and Sebastian and shook his head. “Sit down, please” Both drivers quickly pulled out the seats in front of them and sat down without uttering a word. “I don’t know what to say to you when I am married to one of our press officers” Maurizio spoke with a sigh “There is a funny English expression…”

“Pot calling the kettle black” Seanagh said and Maurizio clicked his fingers.

“Yes that’s the one” He leaned forward and clasped his hands together and looked at his drivers. “What you told me in Brazil will not be told to anyone else other than Stefi” Neither driver complained, Maurizio had every right to rant to his wife about his team is he wanted to. “But” His scowl returned causing Seb and Seanagh to tense up again. “That does not mean that I will allow you to say whatever you want to each other in the garage, there has to be professional boundaries” He quickly glared at Seb who blushed and looked down at his feet. “Your private lives are your business, I have absolutely no say on that matter, but there might be one or two people higher up than me who would like to have a say. Therefore, it would be best if you both kept your private lives… private”

Seanagh and Seb shared a confused look, either Maurizio was incorrectly explaining what was he was trying to say due to the language barrier or he was trying to say something without exactly saying it.

“I’m not quite sure I– we understand what you’re saying” Seb leaned forward as he spoke.

“We are all allowed to have secrets, sadly it would be best if some stayed that way” Seanagh went to speak when Maurizio continued speaking. “Perhaps it would be best if you both talked. I believe the meeting room a few doors down is free” Seanagh and Sebastian looked at each other as Maurizio opened the door to his office, both drivers took that as a signal to leave and went down the corridor as suggested. Stefania, who had been patiently waiting outside, came into the office and shut the door as Maurizio sat back down at his desk.

Stefi sighed as she went over to her husband and kissed his cheek and wrapped her arms around his shoulders. “Mamma mia” Maurizio spoke with his head in his hands before giving a loving look towards his wife. Stefania just sighed and quickly kissed her husband’s temple.

“They’re not stupid, I’m sure they understood what you said” Maurizio just frowned and looked at Stefi’s left hand, admiring the engagement he had spent hours choosing all those years ago. “I’ll talk to Richard and Britta, we can sort something out without the board knowing” Maurizio nodded and stood up from his desk, realising he was about to be a few minutes late for his meeting with the aerodynamics department. As he and Stefania walked in separate directions he couldn’t help but worry about his two drivers. He wondered what on earth had been going on their heads this whole time, and just how on earth he hadn’t even noticed anything between them until now.

 

Seanagh quietly closed the door to the boardroom and locked it. Seb ran his hands over his face and let out a groan before sitting at one of the tables; he rested his head against the desk and waited for Seanagh to take the seat opposite him before either of them spoke.

“Was he saying what I think he was saying or did something get massively lost in translation?” Seanagh rested her chin on her clasped hands and watched as Seb sat up straight and waited for his reply.

“I am so confused” Seb sighed and leaned back in his chair. “What are we supposed to do?” He tapped his fingers against the table and frowned, so many thoughts about their situation were running through his head and he didn’t know which one to focus on.

“I really, really don’t know” Seanagh moved her hands and patted her hands against the desk and leaned forward. “As I see it, we only really have three options”

“Start seeing each other again and tell absolutely no one” The ‘obvious’ option.

“Don’t start seeing each other again and try to not say or do anything out of bounds in the garage” Otherwise known as how they had conducted themselves up until that point.

“Or…” Seb paused, he hadn’t figured out what the third option was.

“Some strange middle ground between the two” Seb pulled a very confused face and shook his head, definitely needing what that meant explained. “You know, try and be casual. Don’t put a label on whatever this is” Seanagh gestured between herself and Seb with her hands. If she was being honest she didn’t exactly want the third option, but right now it looked like the most viable one. People in Formula 1 were incredibly observant, it was why the paddock was such a thriving ground for gossip, and if the two team mates even looked at each other in a certain way people would start to talk. Despite the fact that a lot of people from teams were in relationships because they were the only people that could put up with Formula 1’s crazy schedule.

“Well since everyone seems to think I’m the paddock flirt…” Seanagh chuckled; Seb was always very flirty with Lee McKenzie as well as a few others at just about every race, herself included. “I don’t think I could be casual for a week without putting my foot in it”

“That puts option two out of the question as well then” Seb sighed and reluctantly nodded. Trying to go on as they were, not being careful, wouldn’t stand them in good stead either. Seanagh let out another sigh and ran a hand across her face. “This would be so easy if this wasn’t Ferrari” They wouldn’t have to act a certain way to keep the board happy, they wouldn’t have to so obviously hide their true feelings in fear of implications, maybe, if they had been at different teams or even in different racing series they could be happy. But nothing with them had ever been or was going to be straight forward.

Seanagh sighed and got to her feet; she moved to the other side of the table and sat down in one of the seats next to Sebastian. She slowly slid one of her hands into his, her fingers perfectly slotting in the gaps between his until their hands were laced together. She gently brushed her thumb up and down his index finger which caused Seb to look at her.

“I have no idea just what we should do, all I know is that I love you and we can’t go back to how we’ve carried on until now because we both clearly want something more”

“I love you too” Seb took Seanagh’s other hand in his and held it tightly. It seemed like they were stuck between a rock and a hard place, they both felt the need to put the team first. Ferrari had clearly had enough bad press over the year to last them another season without news of their drivers having some kind of secret affair breaking out (and if it did the press would have an absolute field day). But their feelings for each other had come back again and showed no sign of going away, and they couldn’t exactly ignore it.

“If only we could run away” To somewhere where people either didn’t know or care if they were racing drivers for the same team, to somewhere where they could at least act on their feelings without feeling guilty or worrying about getting caught. Somewhere where they could blend into the background and no one would notice them.

“Then why don’t we?” Seanagh raised an eyebrow, as Seb stood up and pulled her up with him, as far as she was aware they still had the race in Abu Dhabi to attend. “Because right now I want to do a lot more than just talk to you and you’ve got a plane to catch” Seanagh had booked a flight back to London for that evening so she could spend a brief few days with her family before flying out to Abu Dhabi. Seb leaned down and gave Seanagh a quick but tender kiss, when he pulled away she seemed to look at him with a sparkle in her eyes.

“You’d better come to the airport with me then”

 

_London_

Once Seb had double and triple checked that he was on the right street he jogged towards the block of flats where Seanagh lived and hastily rang the buzzer for her Landlord’s flat hoping at least one of them was in. If not he was going to be stuck waiting outside until her taxi arrived.

“Who is it?” Thankfully Anthony answered, although he sounded mildly annoyed that someone had rang their buzzer.

“Uh, it’s Sebastian. Could you let me in? I don’t have a key” All he had left Italy with was his phone, wallet and passport; sadly he couldn’t stay in London long. Anthony gave a very surprised reply and within seconds the main door was open and Sebastian was standing in the entrance hall, with its silver lifts, wooden post boxes with gold doors covering the far wall all standing on a cream marble floor.

“Seanagh not with you?” Anthony closed the door behind Sebastian and ran a hand through his auburn hair and seemed to take note at Seb’s lack of luggage.

“No she’s getting a taxi” Seb had taken the underground in order to get to Seanagh’s place first without causing too much trouble. Anthony hummed and turned back towards his flat, he wedged the door wide open allowing Sebastian to stand in the doorway as Anthony went over to a large filing cabinet in the far corner of his living room.

“I assume you’ll want a key to get in to Seanagh’s flat, Steven’s out getting the shop so I’ll have to tell him about this when he gets back. No need to worry as you know he’s very trustworthy” If they had wanted to sell some kind of story to the papers about Seb and Seanagh they would have done so already, not that they actually wanted to anyway. Anthony returned to the doorway where Seb was awkwardly stood holding a singular silver key on a keyring that had the flat number attached.

“I’ll get Seanagh to bring it back once I’ve left” Sebastian carefully put the key in his pocket and kept his hand wrapped around it for fear of losing. Anthony raised his eyebrows, surprised at the hint that Seb wouldn’t be staying long and walked Seb towards the lift.

“Is she alright? Steven and myself we watched the race in Brazil, that was a really nasty spin she had” A look of slight fear briefly washed over Anthony’s face.

“She’s completely fine, it looked far worse than what it was” Seb pressed the button for the lift and it arrived immediately. “Thanks for this”

“Not a problem” Anthony smiled as the doors began to close. Right as the lift left Steven returned with his hands full of shopping bags, Anthony took a few off his hands and hurriedly placed them in the kitchen and waited for his husband to shut the door before looking at him excitedly. “You are not going to believe who you missed turning up at the door”

 

Seanagh arrived back at her flat about an hour and a half after she’d landed at Heathrow. She paid her taxi fare and walked up the steps hauling her large suitcase with her and opened the main door just as it started to rain. Steven was milling around by the post boxes and smiled at Seanagh as she walked in.

“Nice flight?” He pressed the button for the lift and leaned against the wall with his arms crossed, a smirk evident on his face. Seanagh was far too concerned about getting to her flat as quickly as possible to ask what was amusing Steven so much.

“Yeah not too bad” Seanagh just about managed a polite smile, she was mentally telling the lift to hurry itself up. “How are you?”

“Oh just the usual” As the lift arrived Steven gave Seanagh a cheeky smile. “Have a nice evening” He winked as he went back into his flat.

“You too” Seanagh pressed the button for her floor and quickly walked towards her flat once there. She dumped both her bags at the door and bolted it shut with a relieved sigh. “I’m home!” She called out as she hung up her keys and coat.

“Finally” Seb switched off the TV and stood up off the sofa. He picked up Seanagh in his arms and kissed her as he gladly carried her through to the bedroom. “I booked a flight for tomorrow morning” He spoke between kisses as Seanagh battled with the hem of his jumper.

“Good” She managed to wrangle the offending item off Sebastian and pulled him down onto the bed by the shoulders, running her hands across his bare skin that felt hot under the tips of her fingers. They only had hours, hours that they both wanted to make the most of.

 

It was four in the morning when Seb had to leave for the airport. He quickly got dressed as Seanagh sat on the end of the bed in her dressing gown watching him. Neither of them wanted Seb to leave but sadly he was due arrive in Abu Dhabi that evening for another Pirelli test, so the rules of Formula 1 said that he had to.

“Go on, go back to sleep” Seb said sympathetically to Seanagh as he put on his jacket and checked for his phone, wallet and passport.

“Can’t I at least kiss you goodbye first?” Seb smiled and nodded as Seanagh stood up and wrapped her arms round Seb’s waist and kissed him deeply. “I love you”

“I’ll send you a text when I’m on the plane, and when I’m back in Italy, and when I get to Abu Dhabi” He paused and tucked Seanagh’s hair behind her ear and kissed her back. “I love you too” Seanagh walked with him to the door and she went back to bed as soon as it closed.

Seb yawned as the lift took him down to the ground floor and as he walked out into the entrance hall he pulled out his phone and went to call for a taxi when a voice startled him.

“Good morning” Steven was stood leaning near the main door with his arms folded across his chest. He was fully dressed and was even fitted with a warm jacket and boots, and looked to be holding something in his hands.

“Morning” Seb rubbed his eyes and yawned again. “If you don’t mind me asking...”

“Well Anthony looked up the earliest flight to Bologna, I assume that’s where you’re off to, and we thought that you’d be leaving right around now and well, cabs charge their worst fares at this hour. And while you could probably afford it neither of us would have it” Steven opened his hand and revealed a set of car keys. “So I’m driving you so long as you tell me which airport you’re flying from” Seb stared at him open mouthed. While Seanagh’s landlords had been very nice and accommodating towards him in the past they had never offered to drive him all the way to the airport at four o’clock in the morning before. Steven sighed and looked at his watch. “If you keep gawking at me you’ll miss your flight” Sebastian shook his head bringing him back to reality.

“Heathrow” Seb rattled his brain trying to remember what flight he had booked.

“Come on” Steven led the way out of the door that was hidden behind the lifts and went outside where there was a tiny car park that was for landlord use only judging buy a small yellow sign on the wall. “Sorry about the car” Seb gave an exaggerated shake of the head as the lights to a Mercedes flashed when Steven pressed a button on the car key he was holding.

“I’m going to get into a lot of trouble if people see me in this” Seb joked which thankfully caused Steven to laugh. He managed to reverse out of the tiny carpark and onto the road and quietly drove off down the quiet street.

“So” Steven spoke after a while since both he and Seb were too tired for a continuous conversation. He turned down the radio once they had turned onto the M25 so they could talk to each other without having to shout over the radio. “I assume we’ll be seeing you a lot more then?”

“Huh?”

“I take it you and Seanagh have gotten back together. I can’t imagine any other reason why you’d be making such a quick visit” Seb sighed and looked down at his hands that were clasped in his lap.

“It’s complicated” He scratched his neck with a frown. Steven hummed and briefly checked his mirrors to be doubly sure they weren’t being followed by any paparazzi because that was the last thing they needed at this hour.

“Good complicated or bad complicated?”

“Both” Seb huffed and Steven seemed confused by his response. “It’s not exactly easy when you both drive for Ferrari”

“Let me guess, brand image doesn’t look good if their drivers are… involved with each other” Steven scoffed and shook his head. “They won’t even let you keep it quiet like before?” Seb went to say no but he stopped himself. Maurizio hadn’t actually said Seb and Seanagh couldn’t be in a relationship let alone be quiet about it, although Seb still wasn’t exactly sure just what Maurizio had said to him and Seanagh yesterday.

Eventually Steven peeled off the motorway and they arrived at Heathrow with plenty of time to spare which allowed Steven and Seb to continue their conversation in the short stay carpark.

“Thanks for the lift, I really appreciate it”

“It’s not a problem Sebastian, and uh, between you and me it would be quite nice if you and Seanagh sorted things out” Seb smiled, he very much wanted that too. “We all deserve our own little piece of happiness don’t we?” Seb couldn’t help but glance down at Steven’s wedding ring as he spoke. It wasn’t that he and Seanagh weren’t happy (minus the questionable season they had almost finished both drivers had an awful lot to be happy about) they just wanted to be a lot closer than what they currently were. “Anyway you should probably be off check-in might be opening soon” Seb pulled his phone out of the pocket and pressed the home button so he could check the time, his far too bright screen read 5.33am.

“Would you like me to buy you a coffee? Just so you don’t fall asleep on the way back”

“That’s very kind of you Seb thank you” They left Steven’s car and walked over to the departures hall without saying much other than complaining about the cold.  Once in the warm terminal Seb went over to the only coffee shop that was in check-in and bought two large drinks while Steven tried to find which check-in desk Sebastian was meant to be at. “Desk thirty three, opens in a few minutes so you might want to join the queue” Seb handed Steven his coffee with a small smile, just what made him want to do all this was beyond him, in Seb’s mind buying Steven a coffee was the least he could do to say thank you. “Hey” Seb looked from the overhead screens to Steven who had placed a friendly hand on his shoulder. “You and Seanagh will be alright”

“I hope so” Seb shrugged and placed his free hand in his pocket.

“You will, I have a good hunch about you two” Steven smiled as the announcement that the check-in desk for Seb’s flight had opened rang out over the tannoy. “Well, I’ll let you go. Have a safe flight and good luck for Abu Dhabi”

“Have a safe drive home, and thank you again”

“Anytime” With a small wave the two men went their separate ways. Steven winced as he walked back out into the cold early morning air and was very grateful for the hot drink he had in his hands. He waited until he finished his coffee before starting the long drive back to his warm bed and waiting husband.


	30. Different

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some changes can be huge, and some feel like nothing's changed at all

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi everyone! Decided to post two chapters today as a Christmas treat for all you lovely people who have read and left kudos on this story over the past few months. I hope you all enjoy them, and I hope you all have a safe and happy festive period whatever you celebrate! <3

_Tuesday 29 th November – Edinburgh Airport_

“Right come on then!” Mary clapped as she stood up from her seat when their flight was called for boarding.

“Mum do you have to be so loud…” Will yawned as he followed his parents and sister to the departure gate to board their flight. Seanagh linked her arm though Will’s in case he got the idea to fall asleep on the floor.

“You can sleep on the plane Will don’t worry” She rubbed her brother’s arm before showing her passport and ticket and standing next to her father after passing the boarding desk. “You alright Dad?” Mark was either as tired as Will was or deep in thought, Seanagh couldn’t tell which.

“Yes, hopefully you’ll have a good race to round off the year” He looked down at his daughter and gave a hopeful smile.

“Here’s hoping” Will gave a loud yawn as he handed over his passport and boarding pass to the attendant and when he was let through he went back to his sister’s side and nuzzled his head in the crook of her neck. “Come on let’s get sleepy head to his seat”

“Trust my last shift at the coffee shop to be a late one” Will sighed, rubbing his hands across his face. As usual Mary led the way onto the plane and once the family were all on board in business class Will rushed over to his seat and sat down trying to get a pre-take off nap while the rest of his family walked towards their seats at a much slower pace.

“So did you see Sebastian at the factory last week?” Mark asked as Mary put their bags in the overhead locker.

“Um…” Seanagh paused, it was far too early to be concocting lies in her head, but the memory of that one brief night Seb had spent at her London flat did bring a smirk to her face. “I didn’t actually; he had to do some tyre test with Pirelli. He flew there straight from Brazil I think, so…” Seanagh trailed off and gave her parents a small shrug; they looked as if they had bought it.

“Ah, I hope it went well”

“Yeah he called me the other day letting me know how he got on. He said had some notes for me-” Seanagh was cut off by her phone ringing and went to answer it immediately, taking a few steps away from her parents. “Hello?”

“Morning team mate” Seanagh’s face split into a wide grin.

“Good morning Sebastian, sounds like you’ve had a long lie in” She heard him chuckle before sitting up in bed. “How’s the hotel?”

“Just the same as last year, it’s missing you though” She let out a small laugh and smiled down at her shoes as her cheeks started to slowly turn red.

“Well I’ll be sure to let it know when I land” Seanagh watched her parents sit down in the seats in front of her, whispering between themselves. Will had already fallen asleep with his head lolled onto his shoulder.

“You haven’t left yet?”

“No, I’m on the plane though we should be leaving soon. I’ll text you when I’m through customs” Seanagh looked around her and saw the cabin starting to fill with passengers. “I best get going I think we’re taking off soon”

“Speak to you in eight hours then” Seb sighed, sounding a little sad. “I love you” Seanagh smiled and looked down at her shoes, speaking quietly.

“I love you too” They had started saying those three words in private lately, neither of them really knew why but they didn’t question it since it was obviously how they felt about each other. Seanagh and Seb exchanged quiet goodbyes before Seanagh switched off her phone and sat down in her seat and looked out of the small oval window with a sigh. Almost beginning to count the seconds until she would be in Abu Dhabi.

 

Seb stayed sat in bed for a few minutes, looking at the lock screen on his phone with a small smile. It was a black and white selfie he had taken with Seanagh after the Malaysian Grand Prix back in 2014. That race was Seb’s first podium of the season, so he and Seanagh had gone to the hotel bar to celebrate with a couple of drinks. He still remembered that evening as clear as day; she had worn a red satin cocktail dress with her perfect smile. He felt like the luckiest person in the world back then, and he started to feel the same way again now.

“Hey Seb” He dropped his phone onto the bed at the shock of Antti walking into his room; he always seemed to forget that Antti always had the spare key to his room. “If you have a few minutes to stop daydreaming would you mind going down to the gym?”

“Yeah just give me a minute to find my things” Seb hauled himself out of bed and looked out a pair of shorts and his running trainers.

“I’ll be outside when you’re ready” It took a few minutes for Seb to get changed and find a towel from the bathroom before putting his phone into his pocket after checking it for new messages. He slowly walked out of his room and looked to his trainer who was texting someone.

“Ready?”

“Yeah just letting Britta know where we are, come on then I have a full plan for today to keep you busy”

 

“Richard, right on time as usual” Seanagh looked between her parents and brother to make sure they were all there as they walked off the plane. She mouthed a thank you to the flight attendants who just politely smiled back as Seanagh had her phone pressed against her ear.

“Very funny, where are you?”

“I’ve literally just landed… well more like walked off the plane but you catch my drift”

“Good, I just wanted to let you know that I’ve sent you an email with a booking reference for your rental car and directions to the hotel”

“It’s the same one I stayed in with McLaren right?”

“Yes that’s the one, the Ritz-Carlton”

“Okay great, I’ve got to go I’m getting close to customs. I’ll send you and Vanessa a text when I’m at the hotel. Bye!” Seanagh placed her phone back in her pocket after sending the briefest of texts to Seb and sighed. “Sorry about that, just Richard being incredibly efficient as usual”

“I’m surprised that’s still the case after all these races” Seanagh’s Mum huffed as she was first to go through passport control.

“I’m surprised I can keep it in a straight line after all these races…”

After breezing through airport security Seanagh found herself with the keys to her rental car for the week, a brand new Alfa Romeo Giulia. It was a deep metallic red with a black cloth interior, and by a small miracle just had enough room for all three suitcases in the boot. As expected Seanagh was driving, with her Dad in the front and her Mum and brother happily chatting away in the back.

“Right then, is everybody happy?” Seanagh asked as she placed the key in the ignition and smiled at the purr of the engine. “You certainly look pleased Dad, I’m sure I can put a word to Santa for you…”

“No, no. My little Honda is just fine. It’s more the colour”

“What about it?” Her Dad pointed to the sheet Seanagh had been given by the rental company.

“It says here it’s Monza Red apparently” Seanagh smirked as she slowly drove out of the airport and towards the hotel under her Dad’s navigation.

Sadly for Seanagh, the drive from the airport to the Ritz-Carlton hotel took just under twenty minutes, but she made a metal note that there was always going to be the half hour drive to the circuit every morning. They checked in with ease and Seanagh answered another call – this time from Jolyon – as they walked towards the lift.

“Yeah we’ve just checked in, the traffic isn’t too bad so you should be fine getting here. Do you want to speak to Mark?”

“No but John might, you know the usual ‘Dad talk’” Seanagh giggled, her and Jo’s Dad’s (being brothers) always loved to talk a great length about their children’s racing, and since they were both going to be at the race it seemed that a catch up was on the cards.

“Yeah that’s fine, I’ll let him know. Catch you at dinner?”

“See you then!” Seanagh squeezed her phone back into her pocket as the lift doors closed.

“Jo’s just landed; I’ve invited him to dinner”

“I think we can squeeze a couple more Palmer’s round the table” The lift doors opened at the fifth floor, Seanagh was the only one getting out.

“Will you guys be alright?”

“We’ll be fine love, one of us will text you when we’re ready for dinner” Seanagh’s Mum smiled at her daughter as the lift doors closed. Part way along the walk to Seanagh’s room she met Valtteri. The two 2013 rookies politely smiled at each other before walking down the corridor in different directions exchanging a quiet ‘good evening’ between them.

After what felt like forever Seanagh finally found herself in her plush hotel room. Although it felt more like a small suite than a room, there was a large sofa in the middle of the room and an even larger TV against the wall in between two large windows that had been covered by light curtains. Seanagh opened the second door that led to the closed off bedroom and placed her suitcase in the corner before falling into the bed with a slightly content smile. Just one more race before she could be waking up in her own bed instead of another hotel.

She pulled her phone out of her pocket and sent a text to Richard to tell Vanessa that she had arrived at the hotel; the pair had flown to Abu Dhabi by themselves to allow Seanagh the opportunity to fly out with her family instead. She then sent a text to Seb, who seemed to reply almost instantly.

_Just arrived at the hotel, can I come over and speak to you about something before dinner?_

**_Sure. I’m in room 572, I’m free now_ **

Seanagh rolled her eyes at her team mate’s use of a wink emoji before she reluctantly pushed herself off her very comfortable double bed and went over to her backpack and pulled out one of her notebooks out of the front pocket before she left her room. Seanagh walked along the hotel corridor, found Sebastian’s room with no trouble at all, knocked on the door three times and waited. She leaned against the door frame and started looking through the pages in her notebook, so if anyone passed by it would look like that Seanagh was seeing Seb on purely professional matters.

“What are you doing here?” Seanagh looked up and saw Daniel stood a few feet away, a quizzical expression on his face since he probably knew that Seb was in the room Seanagh was waiting by.

“Team stuff” Seanagh gave Daniel a warm smile and firmly shut her notebook. “Top secret I’m afraid” She joked, which caused Daniel to smirk.

“I mean I’m sure if I stole one of Seb’s shirts you wouldn’t even notice me there” Daniel teased and Seanagh laughed as Seb finally opened the door to his room. “Ah well, see you kids later” With his trademark grin and a wink Daniel sauntered off down the corridor, leaving the two Ferrari team mates alone.

“You took your time” The pair grinned at each other as Seb let Seanagh into his room and quietly closed the door.

“I was just out the shower; I thought greeting you in just a towel would be far too suggestive” Sebastian bit his lip with a very flirtatious smile. “What did you want to see me about?” Seanagh had walked over to the large window next to the balcony and leaned against the glass; she had discarded her notebook the second she walked into the room.

“Um…” Seanagh ran a hand through her hair, she knew what she wanted to say but as usual she didn’t know how to say it. As she racked her brain Seb walked over towards his team mate and stood just a foot opposite her with his arms folded across his chest. “I’ve been thinking and…” Seanagh looked up, and felt reassured by a small smile from Seb that filled his eyes with warmth. “I um…” The only problem was that she got slightly lost in his bright blue eyes and a lazy smile found its way onto her face. Seb took a small step forward and placed a gentle hand on her upper arm; he brushed a thumb softly against her skin and smiled at her.

“It’s okay” He reassured her. “Don’t rush” Rush. That had something to do with what she wanted to say. It seemed to set Seanagh’s brain back into gear somewhat.

“The thing is… I love you Seb” Seanagh was briefly blinded by a bright grin on Sebastian’s face. “And I know what we talked about back at the factory but…” She placed a hand on his chest; she could feel his racing heartbeat under the tips of her fingers. “You’re special to me, and I was wondering that maybe we could… take things slowly and just, see what happens?” Seb stayed quiet for a minute, his furrowed brow implying that he was deep in thought. They both stayed stood perfectly still, their hands staying where they were. Seanagh felt almost terrified at what he would say, after a few agonisingly long moments Seb began to grin again and he moved his free hand to Seanagh’s face where he brushed his fingers along her jaw.

“Taking things slowly…” He paused “So not being… official then?” Seanagh reluctantly shook her head.

“No, just so we can… maybe figure out what our feelings are first and if we both wanted to then we could I suppose” Seb let out a relieved sigh and smiled. “I’d rather… I’d rather we took things more seriously this time, I just want to make sure that I'm doing this for the right reasons. If you’d be alright with that of course” Seanagh looked up at him with a hopeful gaze, Sebastian leaned down and closed the gap between their faces to only a few inches at most.

"Of course I'm alright with that"

“And before you ask” Seanagh closed the gap even further. “Yes that does mean you get to kiss me, amongst other things” Seb smirked and their faces were so close that they brushed noses with each other, almost as if they were nuzzling, before the pair smiled and closed the small gap of air between them with a tender and passionate kiss.

 

_Wednesday 23 rd November – Ferrari World, Abu Dhabi_

“I can’t believe you’re scared of a rollercoaster”

“It’s completely different from the day job Seb” Seanagh retorted as she was fastened into her seat. She let out a shaky breath and was startled by the feeling of Seb squeezing her hand tightly.

“You’ll be safe, I promise” He smiled warmly at her as Antti and Richard took a seat next to their drivers as Vanessa sat down in the row behind them.

“This is gonna be so much fun!” Antti let out what Seanagh was sure sounded like an excited squeal as Britta coughed loudly, which caused Seb to let go of Seanagh’s hand. Britta, who had the luxury of choosing to not go on the rollercoaster, had started handing out clear plastic goggles to everyone, which managed to make Seanagh feel even more nervous.

Luckily for the two drivers they both got through the rollercoaster ride in one piece and after a long day at the theme park were finally on their way back to the hotel in a small minibus. Vanessa and Antti were excitedly talking about rollercoasters while Britta and Richard were back to working from their phone’s in silence.

“I’ve just been emailed the press conference schedule; you’re the lucky one tomorrow Seanagh. Alongside Jenson, both of the Felipe’s and Max” Seanagh let out a sigh and leaned back in her seat.

“Just five drivers?”

“Yes, they’re having a separate conference with Lewis and Nico it seems” Seanagh nodded and looked out of the window, catching a glimpse of the sun that was starting to sink in the sky. “And you survived the rollercoaster so no excuses, that goes for you too Seb” Britta briefly looked up from her phone to give both drivers a look before she resumed her rapid trying.

“I know, I know…” Within twenty minutes they were back at the hotel eating dinner  having decided to change out of their team gear afterwards “Are you alright… piccolina” Seanagh emerged from her day dream at her old nickname and smiled at Seb who had an amused grin on his face.

“I’m fine… it just feels odd being at the last race already” Seanagh shrugged and finished off the last few forkfuls of her dinner. “I mean Australia feels like it was last week”

“I just can’t wait to be home” Britta smiled, she often talked of going home to Germany for Christmas, her way with words always made it sound so picturesque and wonderful.

“Me neither, the Christmas market is finally back in Edinburgh. Will and me are going as soon as I’m back home” The conversation briefly turned to Christmas and everyone’s plans, which the table all discussed avidly for the next half hour before they forced themselves to go back to their rooms for the night.

 

_Thursday 24 th November – Yas Marina Circuit_

“First of all I go into this weekend thinking it’s my last race…” Seanagh was glad the TV cameras weren’t on her. Otherwise they would have all seen her gasp, before looking incredibly sad, Jenson was taking a sabbatical as far as she was concerned, not full blown retirement.

“Now Seanagh, I just want to gauge how you’re feeling. You seem to get along with Felipe quite well, and we all know how close you are with Jenson. How does it feel to see them both retiring, will you miss them?” Seanagh took a second to think about what she was going to say.

“Well…” She paused again and let out a long sigh. “Short answer: yes. Um, but the long answer is… you know I’ve always had such a great respect for Felipe; he has had a wonderful career. And if my spell at Ferrari turns out to be as half as good and his was then I will certainly be very happy. He was one of the first people in testing in 2013 to welcome me into Formula 1, and I think for the most part we’ve gotten on well. I mean the man is practically a human ray of sunshine so how am I or anyone else not going to miss him?”

The journalists in the room (and Felipe) all laughed as Seanagh began to compose herself about what she had mentally prepared to say about Jenson. “And with Jense… I was his very luckily to be his team mate for three seasons, I learned a lot from him. There were a lot of times in my first two years that were hard and we both seemed to pull each other through the rough patches. And, even though I wasn’t driving last year, I think he’s properly became a very good friend of mine. And if I’m being honest I really am going to miss Jenson a lot, and I think just about everyone in the paddock can say the same”

“You absolute softie…” Of his own accord Jenson stood up from his seat and stepped up to the back row and he briefly hugged his ex-team mate, and carefully whispered in her ear that he wanted to talk to her in private whenever she was free. “You always were the emotional one weren’t you?” She mocked wiping away a tear before both Brits laughed and sat back down in their seats.

After the first part of the press conference was over Seanagh left with Jenson before everyone else. They hugged in the corridor outside the room and it seemed that they were both trying not to cry.

“I don’t see why you’re so upset, it’s just me” They looked at each other with glassy eyes. “We’ll speak about it later; I was thinking we could have dinner tonight would that be okay?”

“Yeah, just text me when you’re free”

“I will” Jenson left with his press officer while Seanagh waited for Richard to walk her back to the Ferrari building (luckily with a spare tissue in his pocket).

“You two…” Richard shook his head as he and his driver both put on their sunglasses. “Still the best of mates even when you’re at Ferrari”

“He’s my friend Richard. Jenson means a lot to me he always has” Richard just shook his head with a smile.

“Right come on then” Richard patted Seanagh’s shoulder as he led her towards the press pen. “Let’s keep it together for the piranhas shall we?” Seanagh gently poked Richard in the ribs with her elbow as he led her over to her first of many, many, many interviews. The final lap of the race couldn’t come quick enough.

 

Seanagh and Jenson both frowned at their watches as the waiter led them over to their table, despite arriving five minutes early and them both being able to clearly see their empty (and reserved table) they had to wait fifteen minutes before they were seated and weren’t even told why.

“Can I offer you a bottle of wine on the house? As an apology for making you wait” The waiter asked, his eyes glancing between Seanagh and Jenson with an air of excitement, given it was a race weekend he clearly knew who they were.

“No thanks, just a jug of water” Seanagh politely smiled.

“With some ice please, thank you” The waiter nodded and left the two friends alone. Jenson huffed before picking up the menu. “So… will it be chicken and rice or am I going to be exotic and have the salmon?” Jenson sarcastically asked himself as he read the menu causing Seanagh to laugh.

“Ah so that’s why you’re retiring, so you can eat proper food again” Jenson placed his menu down and raised his hands in mock defeat.

“You got me” Seanagh laughed again and closed her menu. “I’m glad we finally found the time to do this” Jenson and Seanagh had promised to have a good catch-up over dinner earlier on in the year, but for whatever reason it was only now that they had found the time.

“Yeah me too” Seanagh paused as the waiter returned with a large jug of water and ice and took their orders and menus before silently leaving again. “To your sabbatical even though we all know you’re retiring anyway” Jenson chuckled as Seanagh raised her glass and he picked up his own, clinking them together before taking a small sip of the cold water.

“Honestly I can’t wait, gonna be so weird though. Not living in Monaco anymore”

“Still moving in with your girlfriend then?”

“Yeah” Jenson nodded with a bright grin.

“I’m happy for you mate” Seanagh replied with a small smile.

“Same goes to you buddy” Seanagh raised an eyebrow. “Little Miss Ferrari winner, and you’re ahead of Seb in the championship”

“Only by a couple of points” Seb had been jokingly reminding her of that fact all afternoon.

“Still, I have to admit I was a bit worried about how you’d manage but… you’ve smashed it”

“As if you were worried about little old me…”

“Well you know, working with… you know” Jenson waved his hands around in the air, not wanting to say the words ‘ex-boyfriend’. “You’ve been alright with Seb haven’t you?”

“Of course. I’ve worked with champions before. I know what they’re like” Seanagh smirked as she took a sip of her water. Jenson blushed as he clasped his hands in his lap. “Nah, Seb and me are just rosy” Seanagh’s bright smile was enough to cause Jenson to raise his glass again.

“To being just rosy”

“I’ll drink to that” They clinked glasses and finished their glasses.

“Just this though, we are in the cars tomorrow mate” Seanagh gave a small smile at that fact.

 

After eating their dinner and sadly having to pass on dessert (and remembering to split the bill) Seanagh and Jenson gave each other a big hug goodbye with the promise that they’d see each other on track tomorrow morning. Instead of leaving the restaurant with Jenson Seanagh turned and walked out onto the outside terrace where Vanessa and Richard had been waiting at a table for the past five minutes.

“Hey” She smiled at them both as Vanessa pulled out the chair next to her. After confirming that Seanagh did indeed have a lovely catch up with Jenson Vanessa poured them all a half glass of water as Richard sheepishly placed a Ferrari gift bag on the table beside him. “What’s this?” Seanagh asked, her eyes raking the bag and then Richard who had a shy smile on his face.

“I hope it’s not more Ferrari merch, the three of us have got enough to open our own stall” Vanessa joked causing the whole table to laugh.

“No it’s uh…” Richard blushed and pushed the bag forwards towards his colleagues. “Just a small thing really” Seanagh raised an eyebrow and put her hand into the bag without looking at its contents. Her hand hit something hard and slightly bulky and squarish, she frowned as she put a firm grip on the item and pulled it out of the bag. They looked like two thin red books, she handed one to Vanessa and turned it over setting her eyes on the cover.

On the front and centre of the book was a picture of Seanagh, Vanessa and Richard stood with their arms around each other by the front door of the factory at Maranello, all three of them clad in their Ferrari gear with gold text underneath.

_2016: The dream team’s first year at Ferrari_

“Oh Rich…” Seanagh gasped as she opened the photo album, each page was filled with pictures of the trio, some selfies, some taken by the paddock’s hoard of professional photographers. Each one had a small handwritten caption of when each photo was taken. Each race had a few pages set aside that was filled with pictures. Seanagh giggled at one of the selfies Vanessa had taken at pre-season testing; Seanagh had to wait around for the team to change something on the car and the three of them had been left at the back of the garage feeling very bored so they took a bunch of goofy selfies.

She flicked through the pages, eventually finding the one titled ‘Spanish Grand Prix – Barcelona’ and beamed with teary eyes when she saw one of the many pictures that had been taken after the race; Seanagh crouched on the ground with Richard and Vanessa on either side, a large Union Jack was draped across their backs with Seanagh’s first place trophy sat in front of them.

“Do you like it?” Richard asked tentatively. Vanessa and Seanagh both smiled at him before they stood up and gave him a big hug and a kiss on both cheeks.

“I love it so much” Seanagh wiped away the tears in her eyes and smiled down at her press officer.

“I’ll have to take them back off you so I can get the pictures from this weekend put in, but I uh… just wanted to show you them before the weekend properly started”

“Oh you big softie” Vanessa hugged Richard again and ruffled his hair. Seanagh just smiled at them both and felt herself getting emotional again, she had never felt quite so lucky to have such wonderful people by her side travelling the world with her that she was able to call her friends, let alone colleagues.

“I never really properly thanked you both” Seanagh paused to wipe at her eyes again. “For coming to Ferrari with me. I don’t think I would have managed without the pair of you”

“As if we had a choice in the matter” Seanagh raised an eyebrow at Vanessa, who took one of Seanagh’s and Richard’s hands in each of her own. “The three of us come as a package deal, like Richard called us: we’re a dream team and I couldn’t imagine working with anyone else”

“Yeah” Richard added and he held Seanagh’s other hand. “I might have thought that coming to Ferrari was the maddest thing I’ve ever done but… I just couldn’t leave my girls”

“Awwww!” Seanagh and Vanessa exclaimed loudly before giving Richard another kiss on the cheek. After a very emotional group hug where the three of them allowed themselves to cry a little Vanessa and Seanagh placed the photo albums back in the Ferrari gift bag that Richard carried with him as they left the terrace. As they walked back into the hotel and over towards the lifts Seanagh felt a sense of gratitude wash over her.

She loved her friends more than anything, and she was so lucky to have them at Ferrari with her. Yes she had become friends with Seb again but she honestly felt like she wouldn’t have fitted into Ferrari so well without her personal trainer of six years. There were times when she felt bad for almost taking Richard away from McLaren when he had worked there for so long before Seanagh arrived there but as he had reassured her so many times in the year: he could have said no if he had wanted to, not that he would because as he had just said on the terrace, Vanessa and Seanagh were his girls and he couldn’t imagine working without them.

“Hey guys! Hold the lift!” Seanagh shot her hand out in between the gold lift doors as Antti called out with Seb in tow. She smiled at them both, but more so at Seb as the pair squeezed into the lift. “What’s in the bag?” Antti asked as he and Seb examined the Ferrari bag in Richard’s hand.

“Oh don’t I’ll start crying again” Vanessa joked as the lift rose through the hotel causing everyone to smile. In that moment Seanagh couldn’t imagine being with anyone else in the world.


	31. The Grand Finale

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The 2016 season draws to a close under the desert lights

_Friday 25 th November – Yas Marina Circuit_

“So” Sebastian paused to take a breath as he continued to hammer his feet into the ground. He and Seanagh were halfway through their third and final lap of their track run, with Vanessa and Antti following close behind. They had all arrived at the track much earlier than normal since the press had kept them far too busy yesterday to fit in their usual run of the circuit. Seanagh gave a small laugh as Seb spoke.

“You’re not going to remind me of the fact you’re two points behind me in the championship _again_ are you?” Seb just smirked.

“Maybe” Seanagh nudged Seb with his elbow as they ran into the marina section.

“I cannot wait to get in the car” She jokingly rolled her eyes, her and Seb had been deliberately slowing their pace only slightly so they could hear the conversation their trainers were having behind them, sadly their plan didn’t work when Antti and Vanessa drew up alongside their drivers.

“You’re not going to hear us gossiping that easily” Antti huffed. “Come on a few more corners!” Both Seanagh and Seb let out a groan as their trainers pushed them forwards to continue their running in the desert heat.

 

“As if we haven’t seen that trick before” Antti frowned, Vanessa huffed a small laugh in response.

“I don’t think they would have wanted to hear me filling you in on the loose details of their relationship anyway”

“I still can’t believe I didn’t notice anything…” Antti said for the fifth time causing Vanessa to roll her eyes as they veered off into the pit lane. “Where are they going?” Antti slowed to a stop as Seanagh and Seb went past the pit lane entrance laughing away. Vanessa shook her head; by the looks of things they were racing each other to the start-finish line.

“Typical racing drivers…”

 

“I won’t let you win Seb” Seanagh was marginally ahead as they ran out of the final corner.

“Try me” They sprinted down the asphalt straight with grins on their faces from the usual rush of competition. As they neared the finish line they started to gently elbow each other out of the way as they desperately wanted to win, friendly competition – nothing more. They were neck and neck as they crossed the line, only for Sebastian to lean forward right at the last second.

“You cheeky little…” Seb was far too happy giggling away to see the slightly annoyed look on his team mate’s face. “I’m taking you to the stewards”

“Oh come on…” Seb groaned and flung his arm around Seanagh’s shoulders. “You have fourth in the championship so I have this”

“Not happening” Seanagh walked out of Seb’s hold and jumped up onto the pit wall, sitting in the small gap in the fence with a grin on her face. Seb took half a step forward only for Seanagh to swat him away with her foot. “You can take the long way round”

“By that’s- Hey!” Sebastian yelped as Antti appeared out of nowhere and dumped what looked like the contents of an entire water bottle over Seb’s head. With a satisfied giggle Seanagh managed to jump down onto the other side of the wall joining Vanessa in the pits.

“See you boys later!” With a wink and a smile Seanagh jogged off back towards hospitality to get showered and changed into her overalls for the first free practice session that was due to start in a  couple of hours’ time.

 

Mark had a small smile on his face as he watched Seanagh drive her car back out of the pits after her brief spell in the garage after her install lap. A part of him felt relieved to finally be at race twenty one, but the rest of him felt so proud. As much as he knew that his daughter was a Ferrari driver there were times where he still, couldn’t quite just believe it. As he looked over to the other side of the garage he saw Sebastian finish talking with his engineers, and as he moved towards the back Mark took that as an opportunity to talk to him.

“Sebastian” Mark slid his headset around his neck and quickly glanced up at the timing screens. “Everything good with the car?” Seb hummed and looked to the floor as he thought out his response.

“Yeah fine, just making some setup changes. It felt a bit understeery on the install lap so…” The German shrugged and placed his hands on his hips. “You sure you don’t want to give a helping hand with the front wing?” Seb asked with a smirk causing Mark to chuckle.

“Oh I wouldn’t know where to start with those things. Not wanting to sound like an old man but…”

“They’ve changed a lot since your day?” Mark let out a huff as he cast an eye over Seb’s car, so different to the ones he used to work on in the 1980s. “If you don’t mind me asking” Mark gave Seb a polite smile. “What was it like being a mechanic?”

“Well…” Mark paused as his five year Formula 1 career seemed to flash before his eyes, the late nights, the early starts, that rare sense of joy when the team managed to string good race together. “We certainly didn’t go to all the flash places you lot gallivant off to now. But I mean the job itself was the same” Mark shrugged as he watched Sebastian’s mechanics tinker with the number five Ferrari. “The cars are just different” He gave a small shrug and a smile. “The whole paddock is really, I remember three years ago when I saw it all for the first time. I thought it was a different sport!”

“Must have been quite strange”

“More than worth it though” Mark smiled as he looked up at one of the overhead screens showing the FOM feed. He beamed at the sight of Seanagh navigating her Ferrari through the marina section. The sound of one of Sebastian’s mechanics announcing that the requested changes had been made briefly pulled Mark back to reality. “I know you’re fighting Seanagh for fourth in the championship, but it wouldn’t be sporting if I didn’t wish you well” Mark extended his hand which Sebastian seemed a bit surprised at. “So good luck to your side of the garage this weekend”

“Same to yours” Sebastian shook Mark’s hand with a smile before going back over to join his mechanics. Mark placed his headset back over his ears has he returned to Seanagh’s side of the garage, passing the time talking with some of her mechanics who seemed fascinated by Mark’s stories of his time at Arrows, so much so they nearly didn’t notice Seanagh returning to the pits at the end of her first run.

 

Her laugh was the first thing Seb heard when he pulled out his in-ears at the end of practice. He looked over to Seanagh’s side of the garage to see her talking with her parents; it didn’t take a lot of looking to tell they were family, Seanagh had her mother’s rounded face shape and curly hair that had gone slightly bushy in the heat, and her father’s dark hair colour and watery green eyes. Mark must have told a very funny joke as Seanagh let out a laugh that nearly filled the whole garage, her eyes were squeezed shut and she had a grin that was full of happiness stretched across her face. Seb unknowingly let out an adoring (and very audible) sigh.

“Stop staring at your girlfriend Seb” Antti clicked his fingers in front of Sebastian’s face, bringing him back to reality somewhat.

“She’s not my girlfriend” Sebastian replied quietly and undid his overalls so they were hanging at his waist. “Seanagh’s my _friend_ , and my team mate” He emphasised with a slightly stern look that judging by the smug smile on Antti’s face he didn’t believe for a second. “Or you can ask her yourself if you don’t believe me” The smile was quickly wiped off the Finn’s face as Seanagh walked over to join the pair.

“Ask me what Sebastian?” She gave Seb a knowing smirk; thankfully she had decided to tease Antti instead of him. Seanagh looked at Antti and playfully raised an eyebrow at him. Antti just cleared his throat and folded his arms across his chest with a defeated look on his face. “See you in hospitality then, Seb” Seanagh winked at her team mate before leaving to walk her parents over to the team villa for lunch. Seb just shook his head and gave a gentle laugh.

“She’s something else…” Seb leaned against the back bench with a lazy grin. Antti just scoffed and frowned at his driver before leading him out of the garage to get their own lunch.

 

Seanagh unintentionally yawned after the filming for her interview with Lee for Channel 4’s qualifying programme was wrapped up. She had been one of the drivers picked for some social media live stream Liberty Media had planned at the last minute, and a part of her wanted to just sneak off to the hotel and go to bed early instead of going to do another event.

“Thanks again Seanagh” Lee smiled as she stood up from the plush white sofa that was perched on the roof terrace of the team villa that overlooked the Yas Viceroy hotel and Marina. “Sorry it was such short notice”

“It’s okay” Seanagh yawned again into the back of her hand. Thankfully Richard appeared somehow carrying three espressos. He managed to put them down onto the table without spilling a drop and gave one to Lee first.

“With compliments of Ferrari, and Maurizio” Richard tried his best to smile even though he was close to falling asleep himself. Lee seemed mildly impressed as she accepted the espresso with a wry smile.

“I’ll see you both tomorrow, good luck for qualifying” Lee briefly placed a hand on Seanagh’s arm before she followed the Channel 4 camera crew down the stairs. Once she was out of sight Richard flopped down on the sofa nest to Seanagh and he rested his head on Seanagh’s shoulder.

“Damn the Americans for scheduling live streams with less than twelve hours’ notice” He huffed and ran a hand across his face. Seanagh just patted Richard’s cheek and leaned forward to pick up their coffees from the glass table in front of them. “We need to be at Bernie’s in five minutes” Richard sighed and downed his expresso in one go, which judging by how his face instantly screwed up he seemed to regret it.

“Wait Bernie’s hosting this?”

“Yes, apparently he now knows what Facebook is. Come on then” Richard clapped his hands together before hauling Seanagh up off the far too comfortable sofa and leading her down the stairs and into the surprisingly bustling paddock.

 

“Can we leave him there for another ten minutes?”

“I think that’s a bit harsh mate” Seanagh and Jenson shared a cheeky smile as Seb joined the group of drivers. He contemplated which seat he was going to take before deciding to sit down right next to his team mate. The six drivers were now sat in a row, with Felipe sat right next to DC, followed by Jenson, Mia, Seanagh, and now Seb on the end of the tall white table, with one spare white barstool left empty for when Max arrived.

“What was a bit harsh?” Seb quietly spoke in his team mate’s ear; however it was still picked up by his microphone which DC – who was the lucky soul who had been given the task of interviewing the drivers – seemed rather delighted about.

“Jenson saying you talk too much” Seb just chuckled and looked at David with a raised eyebrow.

“Me?! I never talk what are you on about…” Seb smirked as everyone burst into laughter, with David giving him a far from impressed look and tried to move the conversation on even though Mia, Felipe and Jenson were all in stitches.

“Now I don’t have a fan question for you Seb but I do have one for your team mate…” David spoke in a calm manner trying to settle the unruly drivers.

“Oh dear” Seanagh chuckled and jokingly pulled a face at the thought of having to answer another question.

“How has it been working with Sebastian this year?” David asked with an inquisitive smile, leaning forward slightly.

“Well I’ve managed… No I’m joking” Seanagh paused to think how that whatever answer she gave DC would be gossiping to the rest of the Channel 4 team for the rest of the weekend. “Nah Seb’s been great. He’s a very competent driver, so it’s been good learning from him this year. And um we haven’t fallen out… yet. So hopefully us and the team can build on this for next season” She briefly smiled at Sebastian who beamed back at her.

“Would you say you’ve felt a lot of pressure, not only coming back into Formula 1 after a year out but also driving for Ferrari?”

“Yeah there was a bit of pressure definitely, but after Bahrain it eased off a bit, then again in Barcelona. It has been a tough year for the team as a whole, a bit of a rollercoaster with those highs but we haven’t been able to end the season as well as we started it. But even then it’s still been my best season this year so I have to be proud of that”

“I’d quite like to throw a similar question to you Seb, since you’re here. What’s it been like working with Seanagh?” Just about everyone saw Seb blush and briefly look at his shoes before speaking.

“Well Seanagh… I think we all know that she is a very determined young woman with a never ending supply of optimism. Not to mention that she’s very good behind the wheel behind a Formula 1 car as we all saw at the race in Spain…”

“Mate he meant what’s it like working with her not how wonderful she is!” Jenson piped from form the far end causing everyone to laugh. Seb just gave a small shrug and grinned before trying to hide behind the peak of his cap.

Luckily for Sebastian, Max joined the group of drivers just then and became the centre of attention thanks to a small video message from Bernie as he had been voted Driver of the Day more times than the whole paddock could count. He was then presented with a huge bouquet of white flowers that covered almost his entire upper body from view. However he didn’t seem too keen on keeping them, so he tried to give them away to his unsuspecting fellow drivers that we has sat next to.

“Can I give them to Seb? Or maybe I’ll be the gentleman and given them to you Seanagh, for you and Amelia…” Max leaned over the table and handed Mia the bouquet much to Jenson’s amusement.

“Awww… easy Max you don’t want to make her boyfriend jealous!”

“Thank you Max” Seanagh shot Jenson a dark warning look while Mia accepted the flowers none the less and carefully lay them down on the table before DC continued with his stream of questions regardless of all the goings on around him.

 

_Saturday 26 th November _

Seanagh walked into the post-quali debrief with her head held high, feeling very proud with her fourth place result, which confirmed her as having out qualified Seb over the season be eleven races to ten. She smiled at her engineers that had already sat down at the long table ready to start pouring over the masses of data.

“Congratulations piccolina”

“Thanks boss” Seanagh smiled as Maurizio clapped her on the shoulder. Moments later Seb walked in and was given a similar greeting before he spun round and hugged Seanagh tightly, momentarily lifting her into the air.

“You win the quali battle then” Seanagh didn’t say anything and just smiled at Seb brightly before he softly kissed her on the cheek and firmly shook her hand. “Might want to watch your back next year though” He winked as he took his seat next to Riccardo.

“I hope that’s not a threat Sebastian…” Seanagh teased before sitting down next to Dave who seemed to be rather amused by something. Maurizio loudly cleared his throat and scowled at both of his drivers, a silent warning to not descend into Rosberg and Hamilton levels of rivalry because that was the last thing everyone needed.

“Sorry boss” Seanagh and Seb replied in unison looking up sheepishly at Maurizio as he turned to sit down. The pair smirked at each other behind their boss’ back before switching their brains back into some kind of professional setting as the engineers debrief finally got underway.

 

“For she’s a joy good fellow, for she’s a jolly good fellow, for she’s a jolly good fellow… that nobody can deny!”

“Calm down guys I only got fourth place!” Seanagh blushed as her parents proceeded to clap and cheer in the car on the way back to the hotel. “Can I get tomorrow out of the way first before we start celebrating?” Seanagh chuckled as he Dad placed a warm arm round her shoulder.

“We’re still proud of you love, not many people can say they’ve out-qualified Sebastian Vettel over a season” Seanagh blushed and smiled at her Dad as she walked into the hotel with her family and they all made a beeline for the restaurant. “Speaking of Sebastian, your Mum and I were wondering if he could join us for dinner?”

“Oh?”

“It’s just that he’s been eating by himself, I think your Mum is just scared about him being… you know lonely”

“Well that’s just Seb… but I’ll ask him” Seanagh sighed as she once again saw Seb sat at a small square table by himself, about part-way through his dinner. Seanagh made up her plate from the buffet and gave it to Will before crossing the restaurant to see Seb. “Table for one?” Seb smirked and looked up at Seanagh.

“I didn’t want to get in the way” Seb gestured to the table where Seanagh’s family was sat with his knife.

“You wouldn’t get in the way” Seanagh pulled out the seat opposite Sebastian and sat down resting her chin on her hands. “Believe it or not my parents asked me to drag you over, they think you’re lonely” Seb smirked before taking another bite of his food.

“So I’ve really been invited for dinner?”

“I guess so” Seanagh and Seb looked at each other for a moment before Seb sighed and looked at his plate of food and glass of alcohol free beer.

“Oh fine, but no flirting!”

“I think you need to tell yourself that, team mate” Seanagh winked and picked up Seb’s glass before leading him over to Seanagh’s table and get the glass down in the empty seat next to her. “Are Jo and his lot coming?” Seanagh asked as she finally started on her dinner.

“I just got a text from John they’ve just left the track now, should be here in about half an hour” Seanagh Dad’s replied before glancing over at Seb. “So how’s your family Sebastian? I’m surprised they’re not here”

“They’re all fine, but busy. Plus the flight would have been too long for them” Seb shrugged as he finished off his dinner. “But I’ve called home almost every day, they uh… told me to wish you luck for tomorrow” Seb turned to Seanagh who just smiled.

“Aw well tell them I say thank you, and that Dad is missing his chats with Norbert already” Mark chuckled much to Seanagh and Sebastian’s relief, the fact that their Dad’s got on was wonderful to say the least. They all continued chatting until Jolyon and his Dad had arrived and walked over to the table.

“Well, well, this is a surprise. How are you Sebastian?” Johnathan shook Seb’s hand and Jolyon and Seb just patted each other on the shoulder as the second group of Palmer’s sat down with their own dinner.

“Very well thank you, how are you?”

“Just fine, shame about your lap in qualifying”

“Don’t worry, we have a few tricks up our sleeve for tomorrow” Both Ferrari team mates shared a knowing smile, both knowing about their strategy for the race that was set to put them miles in front of both Red Bulls (they hoped).

 

“We’ll see you guys tomorrow, goodnight” Seanagh waved to her family as she walked with Seb out of the lift and towards their hotel room. They were both smiling has they walked, their arms hung loose by their sides with their hands brushing against each other on occasion. “See it wasn’t so bad”

“What was?”

“Sitting and having dinner with my family, you weren’t in the way at all” Seanagh looked up and down the corridor and made sure nobody saw her and Seb  stood so close together. “Night then” She placed a hand on the door handle and pushed it open an inch, expecting Seb to already be halfway down the corridor. But when she felt something nudge her foot she turned round and saw Seb still stood where he was with his hands in his pockets. “And where do you think you’re going Sebastian?”

“With you” He took a step forward and gently pushed Seb away with a giggle.

“I say to go slowly and here you are wanting to stay the night” Seanagh shook her head at Seb who was grinning away, his smile lighting up the whole corridor.

“I’ll see you tomorrow then” He gave her a polite nod and made his way down the corridor.

“Goodnight Seb” The pair winked at each other with warm smiles as they went their separate ways into their own hotel rooms.

Only as the hours passed and mostly everyone had gone to bed, Sebastian found himself outside Seanagh’s hotel room again, only this time changed into a pair of soft sweatpants and a loose t-shirt, saying that he couldn’t sleep (which was in fact a partial truth). Since Seanagh felt the same, but decided to not tell Seb for the time being, she gladly let Seb into her room and with not so many words they climbed into either side of the double bed and cuddled into each other as they quickly drifted off to sleep.

 

_Sunday 27 th November - Ritz-Carlton Abu Dhabi_

The later race start time meant everyone had an extra few hours in bed to start the last race day of the season. As usual Seb had woken up first and had a shower before drying himself off and getting half-dressed before going back to bed. He carefully got back under the duvet as to not disturb Seanagh who was still sleeping with a frown etched onto her face. Seb carefully leaned over and wrapped an arm round her in case she was having a bad dream, eventually she shot wide awake and clung onto Seb’s arm for dear life.

“Hey, hey… I’m here it’s alright” Seb kissed her temple and gave Seanagh some space to roll onto her back. She brought both hands to her face and let out a long sigh before looking up at Seb who was lying on his side looking down at her. “It was just a bad dream, the race hasn’t happened yet”

“It was like China, Russia and Belgium all rolled into one” Seanagh sighed again and cuddled into Sebastian, allowing him to kiss her hair and hug the bad dreams away.

“If that’s the case then you need to get me a swear jar” Seanagh gave a small laugh as Seb chuckled. “Either that or you give Maurizio his own personal bleep machine”

“I think he’d prefer the swear jar, more money for next year’s car” Seanagh smiled and got out of bed heading for the bathroom. “I’m heading for a quick shower” Seb looked at the time on his phone; and decided to get dressed even though they still had a little bit of time before everyone was scheduled to have a late breakfast.

 

“Jolyon you’ll have to lean down a bit!”

“Why?” Jo turned to his Dad and frowned.

“Because Sebastian won’t be able to fit you in the picture”

“No, no it’s fine. Everyone just stay still” Seb took a couple of steps back and took a few pictures and strolled back to his seat near the end of the table in-between the two Wills, which as expected had been far too confusing for Seb’s liking. “There you go” He handed Seanagh back her phone with a small smile as he took his seat.

“Thanks Seb!” Seanagh smiled up at him and looked through the three identical pictures before posting one of them to her social media. She placed her phone back on the table and returned her attention to her breakfast and resumed finishing off the last bits of fruit and chia seed oats.

“So what’s the strategy for today then guys?” Mark asked taking a large glug of his coffee.

“Not in front of the competition Dad!” Seanagh winked at Jolyon who just chuckled in response. They all chatted over breakfast before Britta and Richard appeared tapping their watches.

“Excuse us” Seanagh, Jolyon and Seb politely left the table and went back into the hotel to get changed into their team gear before heading to the circuit.

 

Mia, Jolyon and Seanagh all walked to the grid together for the end of season driver’s photograph. About half the drivers had already been sorted into their designated spots and while at the race in Australia just about everyone started at Seanagh as she arrived, this time no one batted an eyelid, and even Marcus and Pascal gave her a small smile as she arrived. Jolyon and Mia were quickly given instructions on where to stand when Mia grabbed Seanagh’s shoulder.

“You okay?” Both drivers stopped moving much to Matteo’s dismay – the FIA delegate who was blessed with keeping the drivers in order during the press conferences and driver photos.

“I’m sorry ladies the photographers are waiting” He shooed Seanagh and Mia into their assigned spaces, Seanagh sat on the front row with a space for Seb and Nico Rosberg on either side of her and Mia stood on the back row next to Jolyon. Seanagh gave her friend a reassuring smile, which judging by the worried look in Mia’s eye she didn’t quite resonate.

Eventually the rest of the drivers arrived and were given their official place, with Seb as usual arriving last.

“You ought to get a lesson in time keeping” Seanagh muttered to her team mate as Matteo gave everyone the once over and finally told the photographers to take their pictures. “Maybe Santa will get you a watch for Christmas” Seb hummed with a smirk on his lips.

“I’ll be holding him to that”

“Okay, everyone apart from Rosberg and Hamilton can go” The twenty drivers that had been freed all breathed a sigh of relief and darted out of their places and rushed towards the pit lane. Seanagh caught Mia’s eye and the pair met just as they walked into the pits.

“Could you give us a minute Seb?” Seanagh gave Sebastian a stern look which he nodded at and ended up walking back towards the paddock with Pascal. “What’s the matter Mia?” Seanagh asked softy. The pair had ended up staying stood in the pit lane since it was proving to be a lot quieter as it was only mechanics in the surrounding garages making sure everything was ready for the race.

“I’m nervous for him, you know?” Seanagh gave a small sigh, having been in Mia’s shoes before three years ago.

“The best thing you can do is just leave Nico to it, focus on your own race yeah? Give the Renault guys something to cheer about” Mia huffed and looked down at her racing boots; she had been distant ever since Malaysia, been so focused on privately supporting Nico in his championship efforts while publicly having to be strong for her own team and drag results out of a car that had been proving to be a dog to drive. “You and him are both made of strong stuff, you’ll be fine” Seanagh clapped Mia on the shoulder and smiled at her as Nico and Lewis emerged from the grid. Lewis sped off into the paddock while Nico slowed at the sight of Mia and Seanagh together. “Good luck today Nico” Seanagh spoke quietly and gave Nico a small smile as she left, with Seanagh being British everyone had assumed that Seanagh would have been supporting Lewis for the title, but she wouldn’t have allowed herself to support anyone else other than her best friend’s boyfriend.

Once Seanagh returned for the brief stop in hospitality she found Seb, Richard and Britta all sat at a table near the bar so she went to join them. They only had ten minutes before the drivers were to be escorted back to the pits for the drivers parade so there wasn’t much point in getting changed.

“Just promise me something you two” Everyone looked at Richard as he addressed the two drivers sternly, wondering what he was going to say. “If word from the factory if going to be believed that we’ll have a good car next year and you are involved in the title fight next year then _please_ don’t do anything stupid. Seanagh’s stressed me out enough this year and I’m far too young to be getting any grey hairs”

“You’re thirty three Rich I think you’ve got a good few years before you can worry about going grey” Seanagh joked much to Britta and Seb’s amusement.

“Oh would you look at the time we need to go…” Richard looked at his watch causing Britta to do the same.

“We’re a few minutes early, but since someone was late for the driver’s photo…” She scowled at Seb who raised his hands defensively.

“I couldn’t find my boots!” Given how high his voice went Seb was clearly lying which caused everyone else in the small group to laugh at him as they re-entered the paddock and headed back towards the pits.

 

Seb found himself as being one of the first drivers on the parade truck. He stood leaning against the metal barrier tapping his fingers against it while he quietly hummed to himself as he watched the rest of the drivers haul themselves on board. He looked over his shoulder to see Fernando a couple of feet away to his left and they exchanged only the smallest of nods in greeting as their team mates finally arrived laughing so loudly at something that the marshals stood at the other side of the track could probably hear them.

“You got so smashed though it was absolutely hilarious!” Seanagh joked before imitating some awful dance move that Jenson must have done at some club after one of the races in which the two Brits were still team mates.

“Good times buddy good times, oh hello Seb!” Jenson grinned at Seb and clapped him on the shoulder. “Look at you two eh, battling for fourth in the championship”

“Oh gosh don’t remind him!” Seanagh groaned. “He’s been insufferable all weekend, ‘I’m only two points behind you in the championship Seanagh’” Seb’s team mate rattled off a surprisingly good impression of Seb’s German accent that had Jenson in stitches once more. “Honestly mate you should have warmed me working with him was going to be so annoying!” Seanagh jokingly mocked with a sly wink thrown in Seb’s direction.

“Okay first of all, honestly is my word” Seb paused as Jenson gave another howl of laughter. “And secondly-” Unfortunately for Seb he was interrupted by Lee and the FOM camera crew arriving to interview the three drivers.

“Sorry to butt in you three seem to be enjoying yourselves” Lee smirked at the three of them, and gave a small laugh when Jenson put his arms round both Ferrari drivers and hauled them close.

“Absolutely, just having one last catch up with my favourite Ferrari drivers”

“We’re the only Ferrari drivers on the grid Jense!” Seanagh jibed and lightly elbowed Jenson in the ribs which knocked Seb to the side slightly. Lee laughed and shook her head at the sight before somehow questioning all three drivers before she left again to speak to Mia. “On a serious note” Jenson had managed to let go of Seb and Seanagh and the three of them all resumed leaning against or holding onto the metal barrier as the truck moved around the circuit. “Good luck today, I hope you have a good last race. You’ve earned it”

“Thanks buddy” Jenson beamed and clapped Seanagh on the shoulder.

“And, as soppy as this sounds, it’s been an honour to share the race track with you my friend” Seb could swear he saw tears well up in Jenson’s eyes as he and Seanagh gave each other one final giant hug, he thought nothing of it however considering how many times he had cried after his race wins and championship victories. So he smiled at Jenson, shook his hand and wished him well for his last race before jumping off the truck when it arrived back in the pits. Allowing Seanagh and Jenson to walk each other back into the paddock – as they had always done when they were team mates– one last time.

 

Richard let out a shaky sigh as he was stood at the back of the garage, the team’s social media phone in his hands, he couldn’t have been happier to be at the last race. But as the formation lap went underway he felt just as nervous as he had done for the twenty other race starts he had gone through over the season. He briefly looked over at Seanagh’s family, who were all far too busy engrossed in the overhead TV screens to notice anything else. With a small smile he turned his attention back to the phone and typed out the usual start of the race tweet to it was ready to send out as soon as the race was underway.

He watched as the two Mercedes slowed into the front row of the grid, with Ricciardo in third, Seanagh in fourth and Sebastian in fifth. Richard kept a watchful eye over Seanagh’s car keeping an eye out for any potential problems but the car seemed fine as Sainz and Ericsson slotted into the last row of the grid, and at long last the five red lights illuminated one by one and within a few second they went out again and race twenty one of twenty one was at long last underway.

After the start the race passed by in its usual blur. Apart from the odd battle in the midfield nothing much happened. He like the few other Brita in the garage let out a disheartened sigh when Jenson ended up retiring from the race with a suspension failure after only twelve laps. It was a real shame but sadly, mechanical failures never cared if it was an important race or not when they reared their ugly head.

The end of the race however seemed to be far more interesting for some when it appeared that Hamilton was slowing the pace down in the hope that the cars behind Nico would try to get past his Mercedes team mate. As Seb (who had jumped up a few places thanks to a very well timed pit stop) was in third Richard knew there was fat chance of that happening. Verstappen however had recovered from his spin at the start of the race to be in fourth threatening to bother the Ferrari but thankfully Seanagh was behind him in fifth so the top five cars ended up following each other in a procession to the finish line.

Lewis ended up winning the race but Nico had finished where he’d needed to clinch the championship by a mere handful of points. Seb rounded off the podium with Max in fourth and Seanagh close behind in fifth. Richard sighed at he typed out the race results and posted the final tweet of the race before handing the phone back over to Stefi. He knew that Seb making the podium and Seanagh not doing so meant that his driver had ended up dropping to fifth in the drivers’ championship by what he managed to work out to be by just three points (providing his maths was right Sebastian finished the season with 212 points and Seanagh with 209).

As Richard went over to congratulate Seanagh’s family on another top five finish he realised that while fifth in the drivers’ standings didn’t sound as good as fourth it was still one heck of an achievement for a driver who had spent the previous year out of Formula 1 (excluding when Seanagh had to fill in for Fernando) and who had come into a brand new team, with one of the best drivers on the grid as her team mate. Richard moved to the front of the garage and clapped when Seanagh emerged into the pit lane and drove past the Ferrari garage. She had still secured a top five finish in the standings, and Richard would never stop being so damn proud of her for that.

 

Once Seanagh had clambered out of her car in parc ferme she took off her gloves and lay them down on the car so she could take off her helmet and HANS device. With her free hand she took off her balaclava and stuffed it in her helmet with her gloves. As she walked down to scrutineering she took out her radio in ears and gave a smile and a wave to Sebastian’s mechanics that had gathered behind the metal fence.

As soon as Seb had jumped Seanagh in the pit stops she knew that fourth in the championship was out of the question, so she’d tried and tried to get past Max to take fourth place but it was no use, it was notoriously difficult to overtake around the Yas Marina Circuit, but she’d only finished a few tenths behind the Red Bull, so that was something.

She huffed as she walked into scrutineering. She’d only seen two cars in parc ferme, Lewis’ Mercedes in first and Seb’s Ferrari in third. Judging by the number of grey, white and turquoise clad Mercedes team members Nico must have finished in second, but she had no clue what that meant for the championship and whether or need she needed to be on cheer up duty for Mia after her press duties were done.

“Next!” Charlie called out and Seanagh stood on the scales for half a minute before being called down to collect the small receipt from the official.

“Who won?” Seanagh asked as she briefly glanced down at the number that was printed on the paper. “Who won the championship?” She reiterated to Charlie who seemed to be quite stunned that a driver was saying anything more to him thank a small thank you.

“Uh… Rosberg I think” Charlie turned to one of his colleagues who nodded.

“Great thanks” Seanagh smiled at Charlie and turned to leave, and right on cue Nico arrived to be weighed, a look of sheer euphoria on his face. “Congratulations” Seanagh smiled warmly at the Mercedes driver and patted him on the shoulder. “You’ve had a great year, well done. You’ve earned it”

“Thanks” Nico tearily replied as Seb finally arrived to be weighed himself. Seanagh stood to the side as both German were weighed as she waited to congratulate her team mate on his podium. “See you on the podium Seb!” Nico grinned as he jogged off up the stairs towards the cool down room. Sebastian moved to where Seanagh was stood and clapped her on the shoulder.

“Good race mate” She was annoyed at Seb beating her at the last race, but in her mind there were worse people who could have finished ahead of her.

“Good season” Seb nodded with a bright smile. Seanagh shook her head and pulled Seb into a brief hug. “Nice one schatzi” Seanagh breathed a smile as he hugged Seb around the shoulders, not even noticing just what she had called him. She stepped out of the hug still beaming, while Sebastian had a puzzled look on his face. Suddenly the FIA press delegate appeared to drag Sebastian up to the podium since for once he was reluctant to leave and get his trophy.

“Yeah, yeah I’m coming” Seb picked up his helmet and gloves from the floor and leaned down at speak very quietly in Seanagh’s ear.

“See you in the debrief then, darling” Seanagh’s breath caught in her throat as Seb left, and when she finally realised what she had done she shook her head and headed back out into the pit lane to walk to the garage muttering under her breath.

“Me and my big mouth…”

 

“Well Seanagh, fifth place is probably the best you could have gotten today. Sadly Sebastian managed to beat you to fourth in the championship right at the last gasp, but still a top five in the drivers’ standings in your first full year back is quite incredible. How has your first year at Ferrari been?” Seanagh was stood in the press pen, with Lee being her last interview of the day before she was finally free and she could consider the season over.

“Yeah, it was pretty tricky out there in the race today. But as you say fifth in the championship… I would have really preferred it to be fourth but Seb only got me by three points, which I never expected at the start of the year so yeah I’m really happy. This has been the most incredible year, lots of ups and downs, but it has been the most incredibly honour to call myself a Ferrari driver, and I hope I can do so for many more years to come”

 

Once Seanagh’s interviews and post-race duties were long since finished she walked through the paddock alone, after twenty one races all she wanted was a brief quiet moment to herself. She was sat in a bench just outside the Ferrari team villa, and let out a sigh and closed her eyes and leaned her head back. The season had been so crazy, coming back to F1 after nearly a year out was tough enough but to contest in twenty one races? She felt almost exhausted.

“Hey Nico!” Seanagh’s eyes opened at the sound of Mia’s voice calling out into the paddock. She watched as Mia and Nico ran towards each other and kissed right in the middle of the bustling paddock. Seanagh’s mouth dropped at the sight – Mia and Nico had been very serious about keeping their relationship out of the public eye – but since they were probably both on a championship winning high they had probably forgotten about the mass of cameras that had now surrounded them.

“Oh my god… is that who I think it is?!” Jenson and his family had stopped by where Seanagh was sat and they were all gawking at the sight of a very sheepish looking Mia holding Nico’s hand as they made their way very quickly down the paddock.

“Yep” Seanagh huffed and stood up with a shrug. “What’s with the overalls?” Both Jenson and his girlfriend Brittny were wearing a set of McLaren overalls with Jenson’s name stitched onto the leg. “Please don’t tell me you’re stealing them” Seanagh chuckled.

“Don’t tell Ron” Jenson winked as he pulled Seanagh into a tight hug. “I just wanted to see you before we left. You’ve done a bloody good job this year mate; I meant what I said in Bahrain. Ferrari really don’t know how lucky they are to have you” Seanagh blushed as Jenson beamed down at her, clapping her on the shoulder. “And you know, just promise me you’ll make a good job of it. I’ve already put money on you to win the championship”

“You must be mad” Seanagh let out a surprised laugh and shook her head. “Well, enjoy your ‘sabbatical’ mate, I’ll miss you”

“You too buddy” Jenson leaned down and hugged Seanagh again, as if for the last time judging by how long they held onto each other for.

“And don’t be a stranger. If you’ve ever in London just let me know, it’d be great to see you”

“I definitely will”

“And if you’re ever in California you’re more than welcome to come and visit!” Brittny smiled and placed her arm round Jenson with a bright smile. Seanagh nodded and patted Jenson’s arm and stood back allowing him and his family to get on their way.

“See you around mate”

“See you buddy!” Jenson and his entourage all headed towards the paddock exit. Seanagh watched as they disappeared out of sight and sighed, she was pleased Jenson had finally found his long awaited happiness.

“Hey, was that Jenson?” Richard appeared with his hands in his pockets as the leisurely strolled out of the team villa.

“Yeah, that’s him and his lot away I think” Seanagh huffed and looked at her red-clad press officer. “What a year huh?”

“You’re telling me” Richard looked down at his red shoes and shook his head. “You’re needed inside”

“Alright then” Seanagh huffed before her and Richard placed an arm around each other and headed inside, back to Ferrari.


	32. Such a Beautiful Sight, We're Happy Tonight...

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After twenty one races, winter break can't come soon enough

_Friday 16 th December – Maranello_

Seanagh looked at the time on her watch excitedly, half past four, the time everyone could leave the factory since it was a Friday and in Seanagh’s case her last factory day of the year. As the meeting she was sat in drew to a close, she rose from her seat and shook everyone’s hand making sure to wish them all a Merry Christmas. She left the boardroom and walked a little faster than normal towards the staff locker room where she retrieved her coat and bag before double and triple checking that she had everything before she turned to leave.

She put her jacket on and slung her bag into her shoulder as she exited the room and skipped down the stairs, Seanagh smiled at the receptionists and over her shoulder saw Seb a few feet away speaking to a couple of people from the aerodynamics department. She smiled and slowly approached them in the hope they were rounding off a conversation, although given how much Seb liked to ramble on Seanagh wasn’t so sure if that would be the case.

“Ah piccolina!” One of them smiled at the sight of Seanagh and greeted her warmly, causing the other two men to turn and smile at her. “Off home for Christmas?”

“Yeah, could I steal Seb for just a few minutes?”

“Of course, we were just finished anyway. Have a lovely Christmas, both of you”

“Thanks”

“You too!” Seanagh and Seb both smiled as the pair left leaving them alone on the far side of the reception area.

“You’re not actually going to steal me are you?” Seb joked with a glint in his eye, Seanagh giggled and reached into her bag.

“No… I just wanted to give you this” Seanagh pulled out white box with a shiny black lid and carefully handed it over to Sebastian. “Happy Christmas Seb”

“Oh no Seanagh… I didn’t get you anything!” Seb raised his voice in dismay, Seanagh just held up her hand briefly before putting it on Seb’s shoulder.

“It’s more practical than anything else, if you remember what I said in Abu Dhabi then…” Seanagh trailed off as a small smile speared on Seb’s face. “Go on, you can open it” Seanagh bounced up on her toes as Seb lifted off the lid revealing the gift that was inside.

“A watch!” Sebastian laughed as he pulled out a bronze watch that had a dark brown leather strap that had been fastened around a small white cushion for presentation sake. “Oh… it’s lovely, thank you” Seb beamed as he examined the watch more closely, Seanagh felt relief wash over her and she smiled.

“Maybe now Britta won’t have to run after you half the time” Seb chuckled as he briefly handed Seanagh the box so he could fasten the watch around his wrist. “You do like it… don’t you?”

“Of course I do, it’s perfect” Seb leaned in to kiss Seanagh’s cheek. “You haven’t given me much time to get you something let alone send it to you”

“You don’t need to get me anything Seb”

“Yes I do” Seanagh sighed and shook her head; Sebastian really was as stubborn as an old mule when an idea he liked popped into his head.

“Well if you really insist-”

“I do” Seanagh raised an eyebrow at him and sighed again.

“Then you can get me something for my birthday, but nothing much okay?”

“Okay” Seb nodded as Seanagh handed him the watch box back before pulling him into a tight hug. She probably wouldn’t be seeing him until the start of January.

“Have a good Christmas, say hello to your family from me”

“Same to you” They hugged again, this time slyly kissing each other on the cheek. “Love you” He whispered so only Seanagh would hear

“You too” Seanagh took a few steps back and waved at her team mate before she turned to walk out of the factory. She passed through the revolving door and looked up at the sole Ferrari flag that still remained but would be taken down in the New Year. With a sigh and a small smile Seanagh walked over to her California T company car and quickly jumped in it before making her way out of the car park and onto the main road heading towards the airport.

She was going home at last.

 

_Wednesday 28th December – Edinburgh_

Mia quietly hummed to herself as she looked out of the coffee shop window, the view she had of Princes Street Gardens looked beautiful in the Winter sunshine from where she was sat. She checked the time on her phone and went to get one of the newspapers off the wall racks when Seanagh finally walked in half an hour late.

“I am so sorry” The pair briefly hugged before sitting down at Mia’s table. Seanagh had texted earlier on saying that all the trams in the city were delayed so she had to walk into the city centre instead.

“Don’t worry about it” Seanagh went to her pockets and pulled out her purse.

“I’ll get you something as an apology” It was nearing the afternoon, and while Christmas was over tourists were starting to arrive in the city for the annual Hogmanay celebrations. “Come to think of it will I get our drinks to go?” Mia frowned at the sight of more people coming in and taking seats, with quite a few people taking notice of the two women. She couldn’t help but wonder if that was to do with her actions in Abu Dhabi.

“Good idea” Seanagh paid for two hot chocolates and her and Mia walked back out into the December chill and crossed to road and walked into Princes Street Gardens that was thankfully a lot quieter than the small coffee shop. The two women breathed a sigh of relief at the fact that they were alone.

“So” Seanagh asked. “How was Christmas with the Rosbergs?” Mia and her family had been in Monaco for Christmas, it was the perfect opportunity for her and Nico’s family to meet without too much fuss.

“It was really nice actually, my Dad nearly fainted when Keke introduced himself though” Mia’s Dad had been raised on Formula 1 since he was an infant, his reaction wasn’t entirely surprising. “But everyone seemed to get on, so that’s good isn’t it?”

“Yeah, I’m glad it went well” Seanagh gave a small smile and took a sip from her drink. “I’m sorry I won’t be able to see you and Nico on New Year’s Eve” Mia had promised Nico she’d bring him to Edinburgh for Hogmanay to see the fireworks display at Edinburgh Castle, she had hoped that they could see Seanagh then too but for some reason she was going on holiday.

“Yeah where did this trip come from, your family has never gone away at this time of year before” Seanagh shrugged and their pair stopped walking.

“Dad thought it would be nice for some reason, one of Mum’s colleagues has a chalet in Switzerland apparently and they offered it to us for my birthday and well… my parents wanted to make the most of it” Seanagh didn’t seemed too pleased at how quickly this trip had sprung up out of nowhere, even Mia who had known Seanagh’s family for years found it strange. Just then Mia’s phone rang; she pulled it out of her pocket and frowned.

 

“It’s Nico, do you mind if I take this?” Mia asked hesitantly.

“Of course” Seanagh smiled and watched as Mia took a few steps towards a nearby bench and sat down, happily talking away to her boyfriend. Seanagh went to look at her own phone; she only had one message from her manager saying to expect a phone call at some point during the day. She didn’t think much of it until her screen flashed with an unknown number, assuming it was the call she was supposed to be expecting she answered it. “Hello?”

“Ah good afternoon Seanagh, it’s Niki” Seanagh took a few hurried steps away so Mia wouldn’t hear. For some reason Niki Lauda had her phone number and it didn’t take an awful lot of thinking to figure out why.

“Hello Niki” Seanagh tried to remain polite while trying to hide her surprise. “How are you?”

“Not very well considering I’m trying to find a driver” Seanagh hummed, trying to figure out why Mercedes would be interested in signing her. “Actually that’s why I’m calling you, this is off the record of course, but some people on the board were disappointed you didn’t call like everybody else when Nico announced his retirement” Seanagh walked round in a small circle trying to string a polite sentence together.

“That’s because I already have a seat for next season Niki” She had been at the factory with Seb when the news broke, everyone had been shocked by Nico’s news; announcing his immediate retirement on the same day he received his championship trophy.

While Niki rambled on about how good an opportunity Mercedes could be for her, Seanagh found herself glancing over at Mia, she was still on the phone to Nico laughing and smiling at whatever he said. She thought about how happy they were now they had (unintentionally) gone public. It was a wonder to Seanagh how Mia and Nico had made it work with them being at different teams, but then maybe that was how they had managed it. And for a brief second, Seanagh wondered that maybe her Seb could make it work if they were at different teams too.

“...so you see, you wouldn’t be treated a second driver here. You would have the same opportunities as Lewis at every race” The words, while spoken in Niki’s usual manner, seemed to sting somewhat. Her team never treated Seanagh any differently to Sebastian; they never ever spoke to her as if she was second best. They saw her as family.

“I’m sorry Niki, but I have a contract with Ferrari that I very much intend on seeing through” Seanagh replied strongly with a small smile, Niki just gave a disappointed sigh.

“Your manager warned me you would say that, you really are as loyal as they say you are” No amount of Mercedes money could have convinced Seanagh to leave Ferrari, that team had truly began to feel like home to her. With a polite and slightly awkward goodbye Seanagh ended the call and placed her phone in her pocket with a huge sigh of relief. She walked back towards Mia who had been sat on the bench waiting for her friend.

“All good with Nico?” Seanagh smiled as she sat down.

“Yeah” Mia paused. “I take it you said no”

“Huh?” Seanagh tried to act as if she had no clue what Mia was on about, but the Scot gave her a disapproving look and a raised eyebrow.

“Nico had a feeling that Niki was going to try and sign you behind Toto’s back” Seanagh scoffed and frowned. “You did say no right?”

“Of course”

“Good” Mia stood up and the pair resumed their walk “Because I don’t think anyone would have forgiven you if you left”

 

_Friday 30th December – Switzerland_

Seanagh had to admit that the Swiss alps really did look beautiful in the winter, everywhere they passed was covered in a dusting of snow as they drove from the airport to their chalet which was on the outskirts of a small village up a small hill. Seanagh’s family had rented out a Jeep for their ten day trip and Mark pulled the car to a stop outside a three story chalet that seemed to have a balcony for each room. Seanagh drew out a slow whistle as she took in the view, the place looked so grand.

“Dad how much did this cost?” Seanagh suddenly felt incredibly guilty, chalets it this time of year probably cost an arm and a leg and she really didn’t want her family spending so much money on her.

“Nothing” Mark smiled down at his daughter while Mary and Will took in the view they had of the valley. “It was a gift from one of my customers remember?”

“Oh” Seanagh felt slightly relieved, but frowned. “It thought it you said it belonged to one of Mum’s colleagues?” A very stunned look appeared on her father’s face. Seanagh glanced between her parents who looked equally confused, something didn’t quite add up.

“Um...” Mark shared a slightly worried look with Mary who just smiled at her daughter.

“You must have gotten confused darling. Why don’t we go inside and pick rooms?” Mary looked at Will who led his sister into the chalet without a second glance. The front door led into a small living room with a black metal stove in the corner with two grey sofas and an armchair sat around a glass coffee table. A wooden arch led to a small kitchenette with two bathrooms next to the stairs. The first floor contained the three bedrooms plus a games room while another set of stairs led to a space under the roof that appeared to be a converted attic.

“This place is so cool!” Will exclaimed as he excitedly sat down on one of the corner sofas and stretched out his legs. The top floor of the chalet served as an L shaped, kitchen, living and dining area that even had an outdoor terrace that was protected by the roof from the elements.

Seanagh hummed as she took in the view again out of the floor to ceiling window before sitting down on the grey sofa with a mug of tea in her hands. She had to admit, the chalet and its setting weren’t exactly the worst place to be spending the weeks containing New Year’s Eve and her birthday.

“Is it just me or have Mum and Dad been acting really weird ever since they said we were coming here” Will didn’t say anything and just shrugged. Seanagh looked at her brother, who was usually as observant as she was, and frowned. “Then again… you’ve been acting really weird too” Will had been on board from the very first mention of the trip, which was strange considering he always said he never wanted to spend the festive period away from home, and he hadn’t questioned once just how their parents knew someone with a chalet in the middle of the Swiss alps.

“Um…”

“Will…” Seanagh edged closer towards her brother “What is it no one’s been telling me?”

“Nothing!” He sprung off the sofa with a start and hurried down the stairs, claiming he suddenly wanted to go for a walk to take pictures when they hadn’t even unpacked yet.

 

_Saturday 7th January 2017_

Seanagh and Will had returned from their walk to the village, they’d gone into a small coffee shop to get themselves something warm to drink since the siblings had wanted to give their parents some time to cook breakfast. The pair talked and joked as they walked back up the hill their chalet was on, they both seemed surprised when a second car was parked outside.

“Maybe someone stopped to ask for directions” Will blushed as he kept his eyes firmly on the ground. Seanagh huffed when she took in the details of the four-by-four, she stopped in her tracks when she got close enough to the back of the car and nearly dropped her empty coffee cup.

“I know that number plate” Will said nothing and bit his lip. Granted Seanagh had only seen that number plate, and the car it belonged to, only once but considering where she had seen it she wasn’t going to forget it in a hurry. “That’s Seb’s car”

“Erm… surprise” Seanagh gave her brother the most quizzical expression. “Oh it wasn’t supposed to go like this...”

“Will, why is Sebastian’s car parked outside our chalet?”

“I knew you’d figure it out eventually” Seanagh spun round at the sound of her team mate’s voice. He was dressed in a warm jacket and boots, as well as what Seanagh felt like was his trademark grey jumper and dark blue jeans. “Then again you always were the smart one” Seanagh was so surprised to see Seb she didn’t even notice Will diving inside the chalet with a smirk on his face. “Fancy a walk? Since I obviously owe you an explanation” They hadn’t spoken much since they had last seen each other, other than a quick phone call on Christmas Day and New Year’s Eve with the odd text in between.

“Yeah I think you do” Seanagh placed her empty cup by Seb’s car to dispose of later and linked her arm through Seb’s as they walked up the hill together. The air was incredibly crisp and cold but it was worth it to look down and see the snow covered valley and the small village nestled in it. “This place is beautiful” They stopped at the top of the hill and stayed standing since there was nowhere to sit other than the cold ground that was covered in a few inches of snow. Seb hummed and looked down at his boots. “Still, pretty view or not” Seanagh moved so she was stood in front of Sebastian. “What on earth are you doing here?”

“Well…” Seb sighed and pulled a face, apparently not knowing where to start. “Turns out your family like me more than I thought”

“Huh?” Seb sighed and shuffled his feet in the snow

“I don’t know… your parents spoke to me in Abu Dhabi and they said they wanted to take you here, Switzerland, for your birthday. And well, I haven’t used that chalet in years and-”

“It’s _yours_?”

“Yeah” Seb blushed. “I used to come here skiing with my ex over the winter break, when we broke up I didn’t know what to do with it so I just kept it but never used it. So when I offered it to your parents they thought it would be nice for me to be here for your birthday” Seb shrugged, his hands in the pockets of his jeans.

“Because I don’t see enough of you already” Seanagh jibed causing Sebastian to let out a small laugh. “As if you would need an excuse to come see me anyway”

“Am I that bad?” Seb asked with a grin, quite clearly knowing the answer.

“Yes Sebastian you are terrible, there’s a whole list of things that have more subtlety than you” Seanagh shook her head with a smile and pulled Seb’s hands out of his pockets so she could hold them. “But since I love you I guess I’ll just have to forgive you”

“As if you’re going to complain about me being here anyway” Seb chuckled as he leaned down to give Seanagh a small kiss. No, Seanagh had absolutely zero complaints about Seb being there for her birthday. None at all.

 

_Sunday 8th January_

Seanagh lay in her bed with her eyes closed for a little while after she woke; a small lie in on her twenty eighth birthday surely had to be acceptable. Eventually she talked herself into opening her eyes and she gave a small sigh of content as she lay in the double bed nestled under the thick, warm duvet, apart from being alone in the room she really couldn’t have been happier. After a couple of minutes Seanagh convinced herself to get out of bed to open the navy curtains covering the sole large square window in the room. When she pulled them back she gasped and let out a small excited squeal – it was snowing, on her birthday.

She tied the curtains back and grabbed her phone from the bedside table to take a picture, and she took a brief look at the birthday messages she had already received from Richard, Vanessa, Mia, Jenson, Jolyon and even some of her mechanics. With a smile Seanagh set her phone back down and she grabbed the oversized grey hoodie she had worn the night before and pulled it on as she went upstairs to make herself a cup of tea in the kitchen.

Seanagh yawned as she entered the open-plan area under the eaves of the roof and saw Seb sat with the rest of her family at the breakfast bar, all of them nursing steaming mugs of tea or coffee.

“Happy birthday sweetheart” Mark beamed at his daughter and let her hug him around the middle as he kissed the top of her head. After Mary and Will gave their own happy birthday wishes Seb started humming the tune to ‘Happy Birthday’ which caused everyone to laugh as Mark excused himself to make Seanagh a cup of tea.

“I can’t believe it’s snowing” Seanagh sighed with a smile as she looked out of the window opposite her.

“You get snow in the UK surely?” Sebastian jibed.

“Yeah just… never on my birthday” Seanagh blushed and smiled down at the cup of tea and two chocolate biscuits her Dad had just given her.

“So” Mark placed a gentle hand on Seanagh’s shoulder and smiled down at her. “What do you want for breakfast love, you can have anything you want as always” Seanagh hummed and tapped her fingers against the kitchen worktop.

“I’ll just make my own breakfast Dad” Seanagh paused and looked around at the sight of her loved ones. “This is more than enough” Seanagh gestured to her surroundings in the hope that her father understood. Thankfully both Mark and Mary smiled and Will, who had been sat next to Seb on the other side of the breakfast bar, smirked as he saw Seb grin from the corner of his eye.

“Oh!” Will exclaimed suddenly, setting his mug down on the breakfast bar. “Those pictures I was telling you about last night Mum” There was a few moments of silence where Will and Mary just stared at each other before a penny dropped in Mary’s mind.

“Ahhh… yes I remember. They’re on your laptop downstairs right?” Will hummed in response. “Right well, you can come and look at them with us can’t you Mark?” Mary gave a knowing smile to her husband which he didn’t seem to understand.

“But I haven’t finished my…” Mark held up his half-drank mug of coffee with a dumbfounded look on his face.

“That’s why they invented mugs Dad, so you can take your drinks with you” Will scoffed from the top of the stairs before he quickly went down them, with Mary and a reluctant Mark in tow. Seanagh watched her family leave and shook her head with a laugh once they had gone.

“Happy birthday Seanagh” Seb smiled warmly at her, it was a smile that reached all the way up to Sebastian’s bright blue eyes that had a definitive sparkle in them.

“Thanks Seb” She beamed back at him and the pair smiled at each other for a moment. “I hope I don’t have to spend the rest of the day explaining to them how we’re definitely not seeing each other”

“Don’t worry I took care of that yesterday” Seb chuckled as he unzipped one of the large pockets on his hoodie and carefully put his hand in it. “I got you something” He pulled out a small white box that had a red ribbon tied around it with a bow in the middle.

“Oh Seb” Seanagh brought her hands to her face as he gently placed the box in front of her. “You really didn’t need to get me anything” Seb just tilted his head to the side and gestured to the watch Seanagh had bought him.

“You didn’t need to get me this, so how about we call it even?”

“Okay” Seanagh nodded and slid the box forward so it was right in front of her. “I take it the reason my family just left is so I can open it?” Seanagh asked with a nervous smile as she pulled at the ribbon and gently set it aside. She paused for a moment before lifting the lid and gasped when she saw the contents of the small box. “Oh Seb…”

Inside was a silver charm bracelet almost filled with charms: in the middle was a little silver number sixteen, with a British flag and red double decker London bus on either side; three of the charms were perfect miniature copies of racetracks, Silverstone, Hungary and Barcelona, each charm had a small coloured gem were the start-finish line would be (blue for Silverstone, a clear gem for Hungary and a red one for Barcelona); going in between each mini silver circuit was a silver and black camera, a plain silver aeroplane and a tiny little spanner charm, which were probably to represent Will, Mary and Mark respectively; and lastly, at each end of the bracelet were two red racing cars.

Seanagh felt tears prick her eyes as she cast her eye over each perfect little charm, it was her in a piece of jewellery, and included the people and places that she loved the most.

“Seb this is…” She paused allowing herself to sniffle and wipe the tears that were threatening to fall down her cheeks.

“Do you like it?” Seb asked hopefully, his hands clasped on the dark grey worktop.

“I love it Sebastian, it’s gorgeous thank you” Seanagh moved to the other side of the breakfast bar where Set was sat so she could hug him tightly and kiss him on the cheek. She leaned back and ran a hand through Seb’s hair and she smiled brightly down at him. Without breaking their gaze Seb reached over to the other side of the breakfast bar and pulled the box back towards the pair and he carefully lifted the bracelet out of it.

“Do you mind?”

“No not at all” Seanagh extended one of her wrists, allowing Sebastian to fasten the clasp for her.

“There” Sebastian smiled and softly brushed his thumb across Seanagh’s knuckles. “Perfect fit” Seanagh smiled, she probably wouldn’t be able to wear the bracelet in the paddock without being asked questions about who had bought it for her, and while she could lie and say it was a gift from her parents she didn’t fancy lying about it.

“There’s one thing though” Seb hummed and tilted his head an inch to the side. “I know what all the charms mean…” Seanagh ran a finger across all of them. “But _two_ red race cars?” Seanagh raised an eyebrow with a small smirk. Seb’s eye’s widened as a red flush suddenly became very visible on his cheeks and ears.

“Well um… I uh… It’s…” Seanagh squeezed Seb’s hand and kissed him on the forehead, feeling slightly guilty at making him feel embarrassed even though there was nothing to be embarrassed about.

“Thank you” Seanagh smiled as she began to run her fingers through Seb’s hair again.

“You’re welcome darling” Seb reached up quickly to kiss the end of Seanagh’s nose as they could both hear Seanagh’s parents coming back up the stairs. Seanagh picked up the box and hurried back over to the other side of the breakfast bar and she busied herself with warming up her mug of now lukewarm tea. Her and Seb were back to acting subdued around each other so people didn’t start asking questions, back to what everyone else thought to be normal.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For those who don't know, 'Hogmany' is what New Year's Eve gets called in Scotland (just in case anyone was wondering)


	33. San Valentino

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Just another average day in Northern Italy

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy New Year everyone! I hope you all have a wonderful festive period.
> 
> Sorry for the longer than normal gaps in uploading chapters, Christmas always takes up all of my energy plus I had a university assignment due in today so I had to concentrate on that first. Anyway I'm back now, hope you all enjoy the chapter <3

_Tuesday 14 th February – Maranello_

The coffee shop was surprisingly quiet for eight o’ clock in the morning. Many of the dark tables and burgundy leather seats lay empty apart from three: at one by the window was an elderly man sipping away at an espresso while reading the morning’s paper, at another near the middle of the room near the bar was a middle aged woman typing fiercely on her laptop, and at the third tucked away in a far corner were Seanagh and Sebastian with two half drank coffees sat between them.

“Well” Seanagh took another sip of her mocha and gently placed her mug back onto the saucer. “I don’t think a team mate has ever taken me out for coffee before”

“Really?!” Seb’s voice went slightly higher than normal with surprise. “Not even Jenson?”

“Well we’d have coffee at the factory, but this is different” Seanagh gestured to their surroundings.

“That’s probably because we’re different” Seb spoke quietly, leaning forward just in case the café’s three other inhabitants heard him.

“Yeah that’s true…” Seanagh leaned forward also, her and Seb ended up being only a few centimetres from each other, that fact brought a smile to Sebastian’s face. “Still, this is really nice”

“Yeah, it is” Seb took one of his hands and softly brushed his index finger against Seanagh’s cheek causing her to blush.

“Seb!” She hissed and leaned back in the seat. “We’re in Maranello in _public_ for goodness sake!” Seanagh spoke quietly, her eyes rapidly scanning around the café to make sure that nobody was looking at them, they weren’t thankfully. Seanagh sighed and shook her head, the thought of spending another year as Sebastian’s team mate was certainly an interesting one. Seb just carried on grinning as a red flush went from his cheeks to the tips of his ears.

Ever since they had seen each other in the hotel that morning they had both tried to pretend they had no idea just what date it was, as Sebastian had said earlier on it was just another perfectly normal and average Tuesday in Maranello. That was of course apart from the large box in the back of Seb’s car that was filled with single red roses and small boxes of chocolates that was for all of the women who worked at the factory.

They finished off their coffees and went back to talking about work and what they thought about how the new car ran in the simulator before Seanagh realised that it had gone half past and they were supposed to be at the factory at quarter to nine. So the two team mates hurriedly put on their coats and joked about how Seb’s watch wasn’t helping in the time keeping department as much as Seanagh had hoped. They each had one foot out of the café when the woman who had been hurriedly typing at her computer suddenly stopped and gave a loud gasp.

“Mio Dio, sono loro!” She gawked at Seb and Seanagh, causing the old man who was sat by the window to look up at the pair and nearly drop his empty cup on the floor as a result.

“Mamma mia…” He was gawking at both drivers too and all of a sudden all of the café’s inhabitants bar the owner were all staring at each other in surprise. Seanagh and Seb briefly looked at each other not really knowing what to do or say. Suddenly the owner came running through and spoke at the two other customers in rapid Italian, waving her hands around frantically as she did so. Both the woman and the older man went back to what they had been doing previously, only this time occasionally glancing at the two Ferrari drivers in a state of slight shock.

Once the customers had been dealt with the café owner smoothed down her apron and beamed up at Seanagh and Sebastian. She appeared to be restraining herself before she shot her arms out and clutched onto Seanagh and Seb’s hands for dear life.

“Good luck for the year, both of you. I’m sure you will make us all very proud” And with a bright smile and a small excited squeal she was gone, and Seanagh and Seb had walked out into the street heading towards their cars.

“Italians” Seanagh breathed a small laugh as Seb looked back over his shoulder at the café.

“You never do get used to it” They both unlocked their cars and went to open the driver doors but paused. “See you at the factory darling” Seb winked as he climbed into his car and started the engine, apparently waiting for his team mate. Seanagh shook her head and climbed into her own car and started the engine, looking over to Seb’s car as she fastened her seatbelt. Seb met her gaze and smirked as he tapped his watch, Seanagh briefly revved her engine as if to tell him to hurry up and they finally left the small car park opposite the café and drove off towards the factory.

 

Richard frowned as he looked at his watch again, it was nearly nine and neither Sebastian nor Seanagh had arrived yet. He was beginning to think about calling them both when the revolving door he had been waiting by started to move, the sound of laughter travelling through it as Seanagh and Seb were trying to negotiate their way through while carrying a large cardboard box. They somehow managed their way through in a fit of giggles, which instantly subsided when Seanagh saw her press officer.

“Morning Rich, Happy Valentine’s Day” She smiled and Seb excused himself, patting the box he was carrying as he went over towards reception and gave one of the two people on duty a red rose and one of the small boxes of chocolates before he went over in the direction of PR.

“You were nearly late” He gave his driver a stern look before looking at his watch, Seanagh prided herself on her punctuality so she must have been doing something very important to make her forget the time. “Still, since you’re due to be in the simulator at ten, Ness and me have something to show you. Come on” Richard led Seanagh back out of the revolving door she had just walked in through and over towards his car in the middle of the car park.

“Where on earth are we going?” Seanagh asked as she hovered by the front passenger door.

“If I told you then it would ruin the surprise” Seanagh hummed and silently got into the car. Richard fastened his seat belt and once Seanagh had done the same he drove out of the car park and left the factory for their very quick drive across town towards the Ferrari museum.

 

Seanagh grew increasingly confused as Richard drove her through Maranello. What made her more even more perplexed was the fact that when Richard arrived at the museum and parked his car by the entrance, a strangely giddy Vanessa was sat waiting for them and almost skipped over to meet them once they had exited the small Fiat.

“There you are!” She grinned and hugged Seanagh and just gave Richard a knowing smile and a nod. “Shall we go in then? I’d ask why you’re late but it doesn’t matter” Seanagh had never seen her trainer so excited before, it was like her birthday had came a couple of months early.

“Are either of you going to tell me why we’re here?” Seanagh asked as they walked through the main entrance and past the main desk, seemingly being Ferrari employees granted them free access.

“No, we’re going to show you” The trio walked into a large room and walked through a maze of Ferrari cars, and it seemed each one had won more than the last. As they left what turned out to be the champions section (Kimi’s 2007 car was the last one they saw as they walked into the next room) the trio entered a slightly smaller room. When Seanagh saw what was in the middle of it she stopped in her tracks and gasped.

“Oh my gosh” She slowly walked over to the red and white car that she had been through so much with; the podiums, the mechanical failures, the come backs, the retirements. Her gorgeous 2016 car. Richard was already stood by it and turned to look at a small black plaque that he began to read from.

“The SF16-H was the Scuderia’s contender for the 2016 season. While the long year of record breaking twenty one races didn’t go as hoped, the car was notable driven by British driver Seanagh Palmer, who contested the 2016 season alongside four-time Champion Sebastian Vettel.

In doing so she became the first ever female racing driver to race for the Scuderia, and after just five races subsequently became the first woman to win a Grand Prix for Ferrari after she took victory at that year’s Spanish Grand Prix at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. Palmer finish an impressive fifth in the Drivers’ championship, just three points behind Vettel in the standings” Richard paused to see Vanessa squeeze Seanagh’s shoulders with a proud smile. “There’s even a picture of you on the podium with your trophy, since you have the real thing back home”

“They actually put my car in the museum…” Seanagh spoke stunned, she had one hand on her mouth as Richard moved to Seanagh’s other side and placed his hand on the small of her back.

“Well yeah, that is where articles of significant historical importance tend to go” Richard beamed. “So this is what being a proud Dad feels like” Seanagh just smiled and nudged Richard in the ribs. “I was told that the team is considering this a Valentine’s gift to you”

“That’s one heck of a bunch of roses” Seanagh huffed a small laugh, Vanessa gave a small giggle and Richard just smiled before looking at his watch and realising that they needed to leave if Seanagh wanted to be back at the factory on time.

 

“Right Seanagh I think we’ve got all we can from this run. We’ll go over the data before Antonio takes over. The times look good so great job” Dave spoke to Seanagh over the radio as she ended another CGI lap around Barcelona.

“Okay” Seanagh gave a small smile as her hour and a half run came to an end. As the screen in front of her changed to black Seanagh clambered out of the simulator and she peeled off her gloves and helmet with a small yawn as she heard the door to the sim room click shut. Seanagh ruffled her hair to make herself look somewhat presentable as she went down the small steps that put her back on the floor. Seanagh walked round into the small debrief area and raised her eyebrows to see a delighted Seb stood by himself. “Hey”

“Hello darling” He bounced up on his toes, he seemed to be hiding something behind his back and looked rather pleased about it. “How did it go?”

“Good I think, the new front wing feels pretty good actually” Seanagh’s voice slowly trailed off when Seb moved the object he had been hiding so it was in front of him. Seanagh blushed at the sight of a large bouquet of red and white flowers that was made up of predominately roses. She placed her helmet and gloves on a small table before going over to Seb and gently taking the flowers from him.

“Happy Valentine’s Day” Seb took a small step forward and kissed Seanagh’s forehead which caused her cheeks to go bright red as she held the flowers close to her chest.

“You couldn’t just get me one rose like everyone else” Seanagh couldn’t help but smile as Seb’s grin seemed to light up the small room. She would have been perfectly happy if the rest of the day comprised of that moment alone.

“That’s because you’re special” Seanagh felt her cheeks go even redder as she looked down at the bouquet and ran her finger across one of the roses.

“It’s a good thing I got you something too then”

“Oh” Seb raised his eyebrows in surprise before his bright grin returned to his face.

“Nothing much since we’re not actually… you know…” Completely and utterly not an official couple despite the promise of Valentine’s gifts, and the charm bracelet, and the watch, and the kisses and the pet names… “It’s back at the hotel”

“We’ll have dinner then, if that’s okay?”

“Room service?” Seb nodded. “Sounds perfect” Seanagh beamed and went up on her toes to kiss Seb on the cheek still holding the flowers tightly. “Love you schatzi”

“Love you too” Right then the door opened and Richard and Antonio appeared each holding single red roses with bright smiles on their faces.

“Happy Valentine’s D-” They spoke in chorus but stopped when they saw the large bouquet Seanagh was holding. Antonio sighed and dropped his arms by his side while Richard just shook his head with an exaggerated frown.

“We’ve been beaten to it Antonio”

“Oh boys…” Seanagh went over to the pair and happily took the roses off them and kissed their cheeks. “I am far too lucky” Seanagh smiled down at the flowers, then Richard, Seb and Antonio in turn before her gaze darted back to Sebastian again. “I should take these out to the car so I don’t forget them” Richard opened the sim room door and Seanagh finally saw her engineer Dave on the other side carrying a tray of small paper coffee cups. He seemed to be quite stunned to see his driver carrying so many flowers. “Long story”

“Need any help?”

“Nah I’ll be alright” Seanagh paused as the door opened and Seb emerged. “Thanks Dave, I’ll just be a few minutes” Dave went into the sim room, his attention focused on not spilling a drop of coffee rather than the two drivers.

“I forgot to ask what time you wanted to have dinner” Seb smiled with a slightly nervous laugh. They walked with each other through the factory and into the car park where Seanagh carefully put her small mass of flowers on the front passengers’ seat, agreeing on a time somewhere along the way.

“So six will be alright then?” Seanagh asked after locking her car again, she leaned against the rear bumper while Seb stood barely an inch opposite her.

“Six would be perfect darling” They both grinned at each other before leaning down for a quick kiss. Seanagh blushed and took a few steps back towards the factory entrance.

“Can’t get each other into trouble now can we?” Seb sighed before shrugging and ever so briefly holding Seanagh’s hand as they walked back into the factory.

 

It was Seb who took their empty room service plates and placed them outside by the door before he swiftly returned to the balcony where he and Seanagh had been sat. It wasn’t the warmest so they were both clad in thick hoodies as they sat in the cool air admiring the view of the main square they had from Seanagh’s top floor hotel room.

“Oh” Seanagh stood up as soon as Seb sat down having remembered something. “Your present” She dived back into the room and went over to her suitcase, returning as quickly as she’d left with a small plain white envelope in her hands. “Like I said it’s not much; and if you don’t want it then that’s fine too. I won’t be offended” Seb raised an eyebrow as Seanagh nervously handed the envelope over. It felt pretty light, almost as if there was nothing in it at all. He opened it carefully so he didn’t rip it too much, and pulled out a black and white ticket envelope that had the badge of his favourite football club in the bottom right corner.

“No way…” Seb grinned and looked up at Seanagh. “You remembered that I support Frankfurt?”

“I was your girlfriend for a year Seb, of course I remember what football club you support” Sebastian opened the ticket envelope and pulled out tickets, four of them to see Entreich Frankfurt play Bayern Munich away on 11th March. “I haven’t booked flights yet, but I looked just in case you wanted to go”

“And?” Of course Seb wanted to go, what sane person would pass up an opportunity to see their club play in person?

“Well, I know it’s not ideal being the day after the final day of testing. But we can fly straight to Munich from Barcelona as soon as testing is done and since the match is in the afternoon we can get a flight out to Italy right after. And so long as I don’t post any pictures on Instagram no one will be any the wiser” Seb smiled at Seanagh as he held the tickets and tapped them against his knee, of course she would have had it all planned out. “I uh… I got four since I thought it would be best if a couple of people came with us. You know just in case we get noticed and people get the wrong idea” Seb hummed, in an ideal world he and Seanagh could go to the match by themselves, but Seanagh had a point; whenever Seb went back to Germany he did have the awful habit of getting noticed by people. And if Seanagh was there than chances were some certain people would be perfectly happy to jump to wild conclusions.

“Yeah… that’d be fine” Still, there would probably be some agreeable company. “Who should be our minders then?” Seb joked much to Seanagh’s dismay.

“Richard asked if he could have one, he’s a huge Bayern fan you see and well…” Seb shrugged, Seanagh and Richard were very good friends. He knew that Seanagh would struggle to find it in her to turn Richard down.

“It’s fine, home and away fans sit together at Bundesliga matches all the time. I could bring Antti, teach both of you why German football’s the best” When they were together Seanagh had only watched international football since she felt it was easier to follow, Seb had always joked about taking her to a proper football match in Germany but sadly they didn’t get the time to do it.

“Alright then”

“So it’s a date?” Seb asked hopefully with a bright smile.

“Yeah… I guess it is”


	34. Mia San Mia

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Testing, Testing... All work and a (little) bit of play

_Monday 27 th February – Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya_

“Here we are!” Seanagh smiled as she switched off the car after finally finding a parking space in the circuit car park. She looked over at Vanessa and Richard, both of whom along with Seanagh were wearing their new Ferrari uniforms: all the same shade of iconic red but with white angular lines on the torsos of their shirts, sweatshirts and jackets and a red zebra style print on the side panels of their gear. The trio got out of Seanagh’s rental car – the Alfa Romeo Giulia she had taken such a liking for at Abu Dhabi – and they all moved to the same spot as Richard pulled his phone out of his jacket pocket.

“Right then, big smiles guys” Richard held his phone aloft making sure its front camera had his two colleagues in view. Seanagh nestled herself in between her press officer and trainer and beamed a bright smile as Richard took the picture of the three of them huddled together appearing ready for another season. “Perfect!” Richard grinned as he looked at the photo and showed it to Seanagh and Vanessa who also approved.

“One for the 2017 photo album eh Rich?” Richard shook his head with a small laugh as Seanagh led him and a buoyant Vanessa through the car park and towards the paddock entrance. They scanned their red passes and eased through the large silver turnstiles and walked together side by side through the sunny yet chilly paddock striding towards the large red Ferrari motorhome. Their team, their home.

 

A couple of hours had passed when Seanagh decided to leave the motorhome to see how things were going in the garage, she’d spent the time mainly twiddling her thumbs since Seb was driving the car all day before Seanagh would get her turn tomorrow. It made her feel slightly restless as she just sat in the quiet motorhome watching the TV screens so she felt that stretching her legs for a few minutes would be a good idea.

She took in a deep breath of fresh air as she stepped out into the paddock with a small smile, Seanagh hadn’t seen any of the data from Seb’s car but the whole team was running on the buzz that all the data from the simulator and the wind tunnel said that the car was good, maybe even very good.

Seanagh had been trying to push the idea out of her head that the team could be fighting for the championship just in case the season provided to be another let down like 2016. And even so, there was that niggling feeling at the back of her head that if the car was good enough to contend for the title that it would be Seb fighting for it – not her.

“Hey! Have you got cotton wool in your ears or something?!” A loud and familiar voice pulled Seanagh back to reality. She could hear the cars going round the track and felt Mia place a hand on her arm as she moved to stand in front of her friend.

“Hey, sorry I was just um…” Seanagh felt taken aback by seeing Mia in her new Williams gear, the white, navy and Martini stripe combination did seem to suit her, but she’d felt slightly uneasy at how whenever the two friends talked Mia would hardly ever mention Williams, which meant that Mia either didn’t feel welcome there (like she had felt at Renault) or that the car was bad. Neither of the two options was desirable, but the thought of the latter felt like some kind of injustice. Here Seanagh was, dressed to the nines in Ferrari red having a seat at one of the biggest teams in the paddock, and there was Mia who was probably going to be driving a car that wasn’t truly worthy of her talents. It just didn’t feel right.

“You were daydreaming again weren’t you?”

“Something like that” Seanagh shrugged it off as if it was nothing. “So” She fixed on a bright smile hoping to get some kind of truth out of her friend. “How’s Williams?”

“Good” Mia nodded and pushed her sunglasses onto the top of her head. “Everyone’s really nice, especially Felipe he’s been great. And we all think that car’s okay so it’s good. Really good” Mercedes had ended up signing Valtteri Bottas as Nico’s replacement, which meant that Felipe had to be talked round into coming out of retirement. And if paddock gossip was to be believed that had been Claire Williams’ easiest job to date. “Oh I completely forgot to tell you” Seanagh just gave an interested hum and smiled at Mia to continue. “I’m moving to Monaco after testing, Nico asked me to move in with him a few weeks ago and I said yes!” Mia beamed a smile that could have easily lit up the whole of Barcelona.

“Oh wow…” Considering Mia and Nico had been together for just over two years the timing wasn’t much of a surprise, more that fact that Mia was lucky enough to be moving onto the next strange of her relationship. “That’s wonderful news”

“Yeah, I’m still keeping my place in Oxford, just for when I’m at the factory so I don’t have to pay for a hotel but…”

“You’re going to be a part of the Monaco club”

“I guess so…” Mia looked at her watch and frowned. “I best be going I promised I wasn’t going to be long, could we have dinner later?”

“Sure”

“Great, see you later!” Mia grinned as she jogged back towards the Williams motorhome and dived back inside the modest white building. Seanagh stuffed her hands in the pockets of her dark blue Ferrari jeans and kept on walking towards the garages when she passed the large grey motorhome of her old team.

When she’d seen the McLaren motorhome (or ‘Brand Centre’ as Ron Dennis always insisted it be called) for the first time last year she felt a strong nostalgic pull towards it, now it was nothing more than a warm feeling of the happy memories she had there. It felt odd considering she wouldn’t be driving for Ferrari in the first place had McLaren not given her a chance to begin with.

“Ah! Excuse me, Miss Palmer!” Seanagh turned round again, this time at the sound of a loud West coast American accent unnecessarily calling her in the middle of the almost desolate paddock. She smiled as a familiar looking man approached her, though his name seemed to have disappeared from Seanagh’s mind. “Good morning, Zak Brown, McLaren Executive Director. It’s very nice to finally meet you” Ah. The man who paddock gossip said had pretty much taken over as Ron Dennis’ replacement.

“Nice to meet you too” Seanagh smiled as she shook Zak’s eager hand.

“Sorry if I startled you, I just felt it would be rude to not introduce myself to one of our most notable former drivers”

“That’s very kind of you to say” Seanagh felt quite taken aback, and could feel her cheeks start to go as red as her shirt and jacket.

“I just wanted to say, completely off the record of course, that while we all completely respect that fact you’re driving for Ferrari this year. But should your services become available, McLaren would be more than happy to welcome you back”

“Oh um…” Seanagh paused, this had easily beaten Niki Lauda’s phone call on the scale of unexpected events. “Thank you” She politely smiled not really knowing the kind of reply a very open invitation back to her old team was warranted. “I don’t mean to be rude but I’m due in the Ferrari garage, but best of luck for the season”

“Thank you very much, you too” Zak smiled and leisurely walked back into the McLaren motorhome. Seanagh turned on her heels and walked just that little bit faster over to the Ferrari garage, giving a sigh of relief when she was in the sanctuary of its red and white walls.

There was no sign of Seb’s car meaning he was still doing laps of the track – which was definitely a good sign – so she quietly passed through the garage giving all of Seb’s mechanics a smile as she headed over to the pit wall and stood on the end next to Dave.

“How’s it looking?” Seanagh asked in a hushed whisper.

“Good” Dave didn’t even nod or show any kind of emotion in his face has he kept his eyes on the screen in front of him. “Good…” He repeated and scribbled something down in his notebook. Realising she wasn’t going to get much sense out of her race engineer Seanagh cautiously approached Maurizio in the hope of getting more than a sentence out of him.

“Morning boss” Maurizio turned round looking quite startled, but relaxed when he saw his driver. They greeted each other with a pat on the shoulder and the team principle leaned over slightly so Seanagh could get a look at the screens. She hummed and nodded at what they showed, it wasn’t much to go on but it appeared to match the data printouts from the simulator – so that had to be promising.

“I didn’t want to do this, but Mr Marchionne would like a word with you during the lunch hour”

“Wonderful” Seanagh sighed, trying to figure out just what she had done to get in trouble without having even sat in the car yet.

“I insisted that I be there too so don’t worry” Seanagh sighed, a meeting with her boss and the Ferrari CEO meant there had to be something to worry about. If only she knew what it was.

 

As promised, come lunch hour Seanagh found herself stood – not sat as usual – in Maurizio’s office with Sergio Marchionne almost glaring at her over Maurizio’s shoulder. The team principle was the lucky one who was able to sit through the encounter. When neither of the two Italians said anything Seanagh assumed that it was up to her to start whatever discussion was supposed to be going on.

“So, may I ask why I’m here?” She asked politely and with a small smile to stay on Marchionne’s good side.

“There were some rumours over the winter…” Maurizio spoke with his elbows on his desk, hands clasped together and his brow furrowed.

“And this morning” Sergio added with a roll of the eyes. Maurizio cleared his throat, as if to remind Sergio that in his office at least Maurizio was the one in charge.

“It is our… understanding that Mercedes approached you over the winter to take Rosberg’s seat, some of the press seem to be running this as a story and we would like to know if there was any truth in the matter”

“Well… Niki Lauda did, and since I gave him a very definitive no I didn’t feel the need to tell you. I’m sorry if I offended you by doing that” Maurizio raised his eyebrows and continued.

“And…” Maurizio sighed, clearly not wanting to have this conversation in such a serious manner while being glared at by his boss.

“Yes, Zak Brown from McLaren said they’d be happy to have me back and no, I didn’t say that I was interested” Seanagh gave a disgruntled sigh. “It’s going to take an awful lot more than a large pile of cash and some nice words to get me to leave” She directed at Marchionne knowing fine and well that Maurizio didn’t need convincing in that department. “Ferrari were incredibly gracious when I was given a second chance last season, I certainly don’t intend to repay that by slapping you all in the face. I’d much rather win a title at least if that’s alright with you” Maurizio just smiled with a  glint in his eye as he stood up and looked at Sergio as if to say ‘I told you so’.

“That would be more than fine piccolina” He stepped out from behind his desk and opened the door to his office. “You can go and have your lunch now” With a polite smile to both men Seanagh left with a sigh of relief and jogged down the stairs into the main hospitality floor. She made her way over to Seb’s table where a seat had been promised for her and Seanagh sat down next to Britta and opposite Sebastian.

“Oh” Seanagh smiled when she saw her lunch already waiting for her. “You didn’t need to get my lunch for me”

“We just wanted to know what that was about a little bit quicker” Antti leaned forward and gestured towards the stairs.

“Oh nothing important” Seanagh shook her head and picked up her cutlery and looked at Sebastian. “But speaking of important I need you to tell me everything about the car” Sebastian just grinned and paused for a moment in thought – definitely a good sign.

 

_Tuesday 28 th February _

“Oh there she is” Seb looked over his shoulder and smiled at Seanagh as she walked down the stairs from her driver room. He politely waved her over since, for some reason, Norbert wanted to speak to her.

“Hey Seb, good morning Mr Vettel. It’s lovely to see you” She spoke brightly and shook Norbert’s hand, giving Seb a small smile in the process. “I can’t stay long I’m afraid”

“That’s alright; I just wanted to wish you well in the car today”

“We’re watching from the VIP area this morning” Seb added.

“That’s really kind of you, thank you” Seanagh smiled at both Vettel’s before checking her watch and letting out a small gasp. “I’m sorry but I really need to go, it’s nice to see you Mr Vettel. Bye Seb!” Seanagh dashed off with Vanessa fussing over her as they left the motorhome and darted off into the paddock. Meanwhile Seb’s Dad just hummed, he had a small frown on his face.

“Everything okay Dad?” Sebastian asked, switching back to speaking German.

“Fine” Norbert shrugged. “She doesn’t have to call me Mr Vettel you know”

“Well you know how Brits are, almost too polite” Granted had Seb been in Seanagh’s shoes he probably would call Mark ‘Mr Palmer’ since Seb felt he was in no terms to be on a first name basis with Seanagh’s Dad. With a check of Sebastian’s own watch he and Norbert agreed to head over to the main pit building to find a good spot to stand in.

“Where did you get that watch Sebastian?” Seb blushed and hastily pulled the cuff of his sleeve over his watch to keep it out of sight, which he had done every single day he had been back in Germany over the winter. As Seb had always been the person to never wear a watch in his life for him to suddenly wear one would have been far too easy for his family to notice. Not that it would be any use now with Norbert but it would stop anyone else in the paddock from asking.

“It was… a Christmas present” Seb paused mid-sentence before blurting out the truth with a sigh. He always struggled when lying to his parents; the guilt would fill him up almost instantly. “From Britta, she said it would stop me from being late to things all the time” Seb added before Norbert could ask who it was from. His father gave a small hum and nodded, deeming the response to be acceptable. And since it was a small twist on the truth Seb felt fine with it. Sebastian sighed with relief as they walked out onto the terrace area above the garages and looked down into the pit lane directly onto the Ferrari garage.

“It’s a nice watch, Britta has very good taste” Without thinking Seb let out another reply which he regretted instantly as it ended up giving his father even more questions to ask. And it made Seb realise that he might as well have told the truth anyway.

“Yeah, Seanagh helped her pick it out”

 

Seanagh stopped when she had reached the back of the Ferrari garage; she looked around at the much quieter hustle and bustle and smiled after taking in a deep breath. Sebastian’s side of the garage was silent as all of Seanagh’s mechanics had gathered themselves around the new car that was now on her side, her mechanics appeared giddy as they made their acquaintances with the SF70H. Seanagh smiled as she walked over towards them, greeting the group with a cheerful ‘good morning’ in Italian. She shook hands with the majority of her mechanics and patted those on the back whose hands were pre-occupied with tools.

“So” Emilio stood up from the floor and placed a hand on Seanagh’s shoulder after wiping it with a loose rag. “What do you think?” Seanagh hummed as she slowly walked around the car.

The change in regulations meant that the bodywork of the new breed of F1 cars was so dramatically different from last season’s: the rear wing was now lower and wider, and appeared to be leaning back in a diagonal fashion making it look so much more aggressive; shark fins had also make a comeback, and in Ferrari’s case had been painted white with Italian flag stripes stretching across it. The car was also a little bit wider, and it seemed that Ferrari had gone for some more unusually shaped side pods; the front wing of the car looked the same, and had only been made a little wider and was slightly angular in design. It all added up to much more downforce meaning so much more speed. Up to five seconds a lap, something the press couldn’t and wouldn’t stop talking about.

Seanagh’s eyes drifted from the changes in bodywork to the white number sixteen that stood proudly high up on the nose of the car. She brushed her fingers against the paintwork and beamed at all of her mechanics that had the same smile on their own faces since yesterday’s debrief had been so positive.

The car, according to Sebastian, was good. Very good indeed.

 

_Friday 10 th March – Barcelona-El Prat International Airport_

Everyone was struggling to hide their smiles as they walked into the departures terminal. Pre-season testing really couldn’t have gone better for Ferrari; so far the car had proven itself to be very reliable, there had only been a few problems but nothing out of the ordinary, which meant the bosses were all very happy. And the timesheets showed that the car was fast, neither Seb nor Seanagh had left the top three on all of the test days. While Seanagh had set the fastest time of the entirety of pre-season testing that afternoon.

“I just don’t think we should be getting our hopes up as much” Everyone groaned at Richard as they took another step forward in the check-in queue. “We all thought the car was going to be competitive last year and look what happened” As much as Richard had a point, the rest of the team had been pulled into the giddy heights of what the timesheets said, and after last season everyone was more than happy to revel in the positivity. No one knew how long it was going to last.

“Next!” Seanagh walked forward at the check-in desk attendant’s call with her booking confirmation and small pile of passports in hand.

“Hi, it’s a party of six to check-in” She handed the documents over and after a lengthy process of putting suitcases on scales and figuring out whose ticket was whose, the group made their way through security after taking three attempts of matching up the right passport to its owner.

“Probably the only downside of all having burgundy passports”

“Richard I’ve had a wonderful day, please don’t spoil it by mentioning Brexit” Seanagh rolled her eyes as Antti patted Seanagh on the shoulder.

“Yeah Richard stop swearing” Seb teased causing Seanagh to jokingly nudge her team mate in the ribs.

The group spent what little time they had in the departures lounge sat around tables talking about testing and what little lives they had outside of the paddock in one of the coffee shops until their flight was called.

In a strange turn of events, Seanagh ended up sat between Britta and Antti and Seb with Richard and Vanessa. No one minded much since they were all on very friendly terms; the change in their usual flying companions was just a little bit odd.

“Well this is exciting” Seanagh remarked after take-off.

“How so?” Antti, who had been pre-occupying himself with the in-flight magazine for the past few minutes, asked with a raised eyebrow.

“I’ve only ever been to Germany for races; I haven’t seen much of it apart from the race tracks”

“Really?” Antti hummed as a look of surprise washed over his face. “Not even when you… you know” He coyly gestured towards Sebastian with a tilt of his head.

“No we um… never got round to that” Ironically Seb had planned to visit Heppenheim with Seanagh after the 2014 Russian Grand Prix, but of course that never happened so she had ended up meeting Seb’s family as his team mate instead. Despite everything Norbert at least seemed to like Seanagh, so that was something.

“Antti…” Britta frowned and shot Antti a look from her window seat, Antti who was in the aisle seat blushed and returned his attention back to the in-flight magazine. Seanagh sighed and leaned down to retrieve her bag from under her seat and pulled out her Italian phrase book and occupied herself with that while on the other side of the plane Richard and Sebastian were avidly discussing the ins and outs of the current Bundesliga season, which they ended up doing for the whole flight.

 

_Saturday 11 th March – Munich_

The Allianz Arena – the home stadium of Bayern Munich – was like something out of a sci-fi novel from the outside. As the match was in the afternoon the stadium’s daytime white made it stand out against the bright blue sky – Richard had excitedly told Seanagh over breakfast that the stadium was one of the few in the world that could be fully illuminated at night time, he seemed quite upset to miss seeing it in person. It looked like a large white oval that was covered in large inflated diamond shaped panels that made it look like a giant cloud that had pitched itself right on the outskirts of Munich.

Somehow its external grandeur was matched on the inside; everywhere anyone walked was food stalls and merchandise stands surrounded and past that were three huge tiers of seats surrounding the large green pitch in the middle.

“Wow” Seb sighed at his surroundings when the quartet had found their seats – Britta and Vanessa who had joined the trip last minute had agreed to spend the day sightseeing since neither of them had been to Munich either. Richard, Seanagh, Sebastian and Antti were sat in the first row of the middle tier of seats and had a near perfect view of the pitch in front of them, almost in alignment with the half way line. “I have to take a picture of this to send to Fabian” Seb grinned as he pulled his phone from his pocket and adjusted his black baseball cap before taking a few pictures of the inside of the stadium, and one selfie with Seanagh, Antti and Richard. “He’s watching the match from home; he couldn’t believe it when I told him you bought me tickets” Sebastian beamed as he typed a message out into his phone to his younger brother.

“Are you sure it’s going to be alright with Richard here?” Seanagh asked, Richard had decided to dress himself in his best Bayern shirt – personalised with his favourite player’s name and number on the back – while Seb was wearing a Frankfurt scarf. Since it was early March they were all in jeans and light jackets as there was a slight chill in the breeze.

“Yeah” Seb nodded after pocketing his phone. “See those two over there” He pointed towards a young couple that were a few seats along, one wearing Bayern red and the other in Frankfurt black and white. “I told you, home and away fans sit together all the time, it’s no problem” Seanagh hummed and after a few minutes of waiting both teams ran out onto the pitch to thunderous applause.

The match got underway to a fairly quiet start, with three yellow cards given out before the first goal to the home side in the thirty eighth minute much to Richard’s delight. He clapped and cheered the successful player’s name at the top of his lungs, the excitement of the goal making him get carried away.

“Robert Lewan- who?” Seanagh had instantly felt out of depth when she only recognised a handful of Bayern Munich players. She only really followed the England national team’s international friendlies and tournament matches. Her only saving grace was remembering a few German players’ names when she had watched the 2014 World Cup final with Sebastian.

“Robert Lewandowski, captain of the Polish national team”

“Ah” Seanagh politely clapped along with Seb and Antti. She looked over at her team mate who seemed to be hiding his disappointment at his team now being the losing side. Especially after Bayern scored another goal just minutes later.

After the group filled up on hot drinks and bratwurst during half-time, the second half of the match showed slightly more promise when a Frankfurt player seemed to have an open run at goal, only for one of the Bayern defenders (ironically one who bared the number five on his shirt) to run forwards and kick the ball out of play. Seanagh winced as Seb slouched down in his seat with his hands on other side of his face in despair.

“Of course Hummels would do something like that. Argh he’s annoyingly good!” Seb shook his head with a frown; Richard said nothing and patted Sebastian’s shoulder in consolidation while Antti and Seanagh just shrugged at each other not having a complete idea of who was who.

The match ended with a 3-0 victory to Bayern Munich, Richard decided to be sporting and buy everyone a large pretzel each as they left the stadium. The quartet met Vanessa and Britta back at their hotel to collect their bags so they could head back to the airport to fly down to Italy. Somehow in the madness of flying to Munich, getting the subway from the hotel to the stadium and back again, none of them appeared to have gotten noticed. A small miracle in everyone’s books.

“Sorry about the result” Seanagh smiled apologetically at Seb as they left their joint room and walked over towards the lift.

“It’s okay, Bayern are in good form at the moment and Frankfurt aren’t so…” Seb just shrugged. “Don’t worry about it, the company made up for the loss” Seanagh blushed as Seb briefly squeezed Seanagh’s hand.

“Even if Richard’s a Bayern fan?”

“Even if Richard’s a Bayern fan” Seb laughed as they arrived at the lift, Richard and Antti were already waiting for them. Thankfully Richard and Seb had already shook hands after the match; apparently the free pretzel seemed to have mended Sebastian’s disappointment.

As the group of six checked out of their hotel and piled into a taxi to head to the airport, all of their brains had started to go back into work mode after their brief twenty four hour rest bite. They had two days scheduled in at the factory before flying over to Melbourne on Wednesday night for the madness to start all over again.

There was no holding the 2017 season back any longer, it was just two short weeks away.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Stole the chapter title from Bayern Munich's motto, which translates to "We are who we are"


	35. The Return of the Prancing Horse

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> La bella vittoria

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Apologies in advance for this chapter being so long, I got far too carried away and this was what I edited it down to. None the less I hope you guys enjoy it!

_Tuesday 21 st March – Melbourne Airport_

Mark let out a long yawn as he hauled his suitcase off the baggage carousel and onto the airport’s pale stone tile floor. He pulled his backpack off his shoulder and checked for the third time that he had his passport and booking confirmation for his hotel room before zipping the bag shut and pulling his phone out of his pocket seeing a text from Will on the screen that had been sent twenty minutes ago.

_Just arrived at the airport. Don’t worry Seanagh’s driving, let us know when you land_

Mark mentally cursed, blaming a twenty three hour flight and the jetlag that had already kicked in for not remembering to text his children. He sent out a short reply and wheeled his suitcase behind him as he breezed through customs and looked around the arrivals hall for his lanky son and petite daughter.

If he’d remembered to change his watch to the right time when he landed then that would make it nearing quarter part seven in the evening, something that was confirmed by the fact that Mark’s stomach gave a loud rumble. He’d had breakfast and lunch on the plane but the thought of a top class hotel dinner sounded much more promising than plane food.

“Dad!” Mark became started at what sounded like Seanagh’s voice and looked around the packed arrivals hall. “Dad!” She shouted again but was lost in the bustle of people.

“Dad over here!” Will waved one of his long arms in the air allowing Mark to pick out his children and he made his way over towards them. Once Mark was in reaching distance Will and Seanagh lunged over and hugged him on either side and they all exchanged happy greetings of hello and asked Mark how his long journey over was.

“Oh I’ll need to text your mother, let her know I’ve landed”

“You can do it in the car, come on” Will took Mark’s suitcase and the family walked out of the terminal and over to the short stay car park where Seanagh had parked her rental car. They piled first bags and then themselves into the car and were stuck in Melbourne’s downtown traffic within minutes.

“So” Mark ran both hands across his face to keep him awake after he had pocketed his phone to let Mary know that he’d landed safe and well in Australia. “You two been up to much other than sunbathing?” Both Seanagh and Will laughed and shook their heads.

“Vanessa’s had me in the gym everyday”

“And this morning, I went over to the bridge to get a picture of the sunrise” Will clapped his hands and made a small excited noise. “You have to see the pictures Dad”

“Oh they’re so beautiful” Seanagh remarked as she turned off the main road going down on of the smaller streets. “And before I forget Dad”

“Yes?”

“I’m tied up doing sponsor and media events tomorrow so I’m afraid it’ll just be you, Will and Uncle John”

“Will you be there for breakfast?”

“Yeah of course, Richard’s not that unfair”

“That’s perfect then” The mention of food caused Mark’s stomach to give another loud grumble. Right as Seanagh turned down another road they arrived at the hotel. Despite it being the second year Mark had stayed there it still managed to take his breath away. The hotels were never that fancy back in his day.

Instead of stopping by the valet, Seanagh chose to park the car herself. She switched off the engine and let Will get Mark’s large suitcase out of the boot before the three of them made their way into the hotel reception which was completely free allowing Mark to check into his room with ease.

As he waited for the receptionist to find Mark’s room key he looked over the shoulder and saw Will and Seanagh speaking to Sebastian and his personal trainer (the Finnish one whose name he couldn’t remember due to Mark’s jetlag).

“Ah, well I best go I’ll see you guys tomorrow. Evening Mr Palmer” Sebastian turned and left, briefly smiling at Mark as he walked over to the lift.

“Hello Sebastian” Mark smiled after finally getting his key off the receptionist. “Nice to see you”

“I take it you had a safe flight” Mark just nodded, he didn’t mind Sebastian, he just wanted to dump his bags in his room so he could finally have dinner.

“Very uneventful”

“See you later then, nice to see you too” With another friendly smile Sebastian walked over to the lift with his hands stuffed in his pockets and his trainer alongside him. After a quick trip up to his room, in which Mark did end up sharing a lift with Sebastian and Antti (he finally remembered), he found himself in the hotel dining room with his brother, nephew and two children finally having his much awaited dinner.

“Not wanting to sound like a walking cliché, but it really doesn’t feel like that long since we were last here” Mark sighed after carefully placing his cutlery on his now empty plate. Seanagh hummed while Will tapped his fingers nervously against the table. “Still, nice to be here for someone’s proper professional debut” The whole table smiled and looked at Will, who after receiving a brand new camera lens for his Christmas and a handsome cheque from his sister was finally able to go professional with his photography. It was in-part aided by Seanagh paying for his flights and hotel bills, thanks to her fairly reasonable pay rise from Ferrari.

“Is it weird that I’m nervous?” The table burst out into choruses of ‘no’ and ‘of course not’ as Seanagh placed a hand on her brother’s arm.

“We all know how popular your website and social media is becoming, and how many times have you had stuff in Autosport and F1 Racing over the past few months?” Will blushed and looked down at his clasped hands. “Your pictures are amazing and just about everyone knows it. You’ll be fine” Seanagh smiled at her brother and everyone around the table soon went back to normal.

As Mark was sadly too full and too tired to have desert everyone decided to go back to their room for an early night as Jolyon also had a day full of media events planned the next day.

“So it’s Hulkenberg you’re team mates with now isn’t it?” Mark asked as the small clan waited on a lift to arrive.

“Yeah” Jolyon gave a breathy and slightly nervous response. Mark just gave him a reassuring smile and patted his nephew on the arm.

“You’ll be fine”

“Thanks Uncle Mark” The lift arrived and everyone climbed in and pressed the buttons for their floors, Mark and Seanagh on the third, Jolyon on the fourth and Will and Johnathan on the seventh. As they were the first out Seanagh and Mark quickly jumped out of the lift and gave quick goodbyes to their family members as the lift doors closed.

Mark slowly walked along the corridor with his daughter, who seemed to be distracted by the charm bracelet that had hardly left her wrist since her birthday.

“Penny for your thoughts?” He gave Seanagh a small smile which she returned.

“I’m fine, just usual pre-first race nerves that’s all” She sighed and stopped walking when Mark found the door to his room again. He patted his daughter’s arm and felt relieved when she stepped in for a hug. “See you at breakfast Dad; I’ll come get you at eight?”

“Sure love, go get some sleep”

“Same to you” After a gentle kiss to her hair Mark let Seanagh go and waited a moment before he stepped into his room. He closed the door behind him and after deciding to shower in the morning; Mark got changed and climbed into the plush double bed, very quickly falling into a deep and restful sleep.

 

_Thursday 23 rd March – Albert Park Circuit_

The small white makeshift building that had been assigned to Ferrari as their base for the race weekend almost felt alive with the buzz of anticipation that everyone seemed to be filled with as they spoke. While in the paddock everyone had been acting normal, as soon as anyone entered the team building eager grins returned to faces and everyone would walk with a small spring in their step – even Maurizio.

Part of it was due to the excitement of a new season being so close, but it was also because everyone had struggled to contain the buzz that the new car had instilled in everyone. By this point, after both pre-season tests and numerous simulator and wind tunnel runs, everyone knew that the car was good, but how good compared to the rest of the field? It wouldn’t be long before they knew that too.

As the drivers had a small break after their lunch hour both them, their press officers and trainers had gathered themselves around two tables that they had pushed together, talking, laughing and joking over just about everything. In particular the beard that Sebastian had been growing over the past few days.

“I don’t know what all the fuss is about” Sebastian scratched his beard and shrugged. “I am going to shave it off I just need to find the time”

“Well we’ve got a few minutes we can do it now” Richard joked, he was stood next to Antti leaning on the back of the Finn’s chair. A few people laughed, Seanagh just shook her head and whispered something to Britta that made her giggle. “See even Seanagh doesn’t like it”

“I’m saying nothing on the matter”

“Just because you couldn’t pull one off” Seb teased Antti who gave his driver a look before glancing up at Richard. Seanagh sighed and took a sip of her tea as Antonio shyly walked over and joined the group.

“Hey Antonio” Seanagh smiled at the reserve driver and gestured for him to take a seat.

“Oh I’m fine, I just wanted to ask are you two not late?”

“Late for what?” Britta asked with a small tone of panic in her voice.

“The drivers press conference” Seanagh, Sebastian, Britta and Richard all looked at each other and then their watches, all quickly realising that joking about Sebastian’s facial hair had in fact made them five minutes late for the press conference.

“Shit” Richard cursed and the drivers and press officers all jumped out of their seats and rushed out of the door and into the paddock, squeezing their way through drivers and other team and media personnel that all jumped out of the way at the Ferrari employees charging towards them.

They arrived in the small holding room and took a few moments to catch their breath before Richard and Britta led their drivers into the main room where the press conference was held. All the journalists were sat patiently waiting and seemed bemused at the fact that Seanagh and Sebastian were the first drivers to arrive, and that Seanagh technically wasn’t supposed to be there for another twenty minutes.

“New schedule remember?” Matteo walked over to the quartet holding his official sheets of paper in hand. “Sebastian is in the first half and Seanagh in the second. Don’t worry you’re only a few minutes early” Soon enough Daniel walked in with his press officer and greeted everyone in his usual cheery manner.

“Oh my god, you can actually grow one of those!” Daniel said in exaggerated amazement and pointed to Seb’s beard causing everyone else to chuckle.

“Yes, I’ve already heard enough about it from these guys” Seb gestured to his colleagues, Seanagh and Richard both rolled their eyes and went back out into the paddock and decided to try the Renault building to see if Jolyon or Seanagh’s Uncle were available for some more sensible conversation.

 

“Question for Seanagh” Seanagh sat up a little bit straighter in her seat and gave the journalist a polite smile. “If everyone’s expectations for the season are true then it looks like it’s going to be a fight between Mercedes and Ferrari for both titles this year, particularly between Lewis and Sebastian for the driver’s title and not yourself and say Valtteri for example. Would you say that bothers you?”

“Um…” Seanagh huffed out a small sigh and shrugged. “Well, it’s hard to say because we haven’t seen the cars on track yet, and we haven’t really been focusing on the championship much at all. But I think if you ask that question to anyone else then I think yes they would be bothered at the fact that people don’t think they’re in the title fight. But for me at least, I like to think that I’ve got a few more years than my team mate to compete for the title so…” Seanagh opened her hands and gave another small shrug. “I don’t think it bothers me that much”

With a warm smile to the crowd of journalists the press conference moved onto the next question and in the usual blur that occurred when a driver wasn’t asked any questions the conference ended and Seanagh was once again walking by Richard’s side towards the Ferrari building for more interviews. “How do you think it’s going to go tomorrow?” Seanagh asked her press officer, biting on the corner of her lip as she usually did when she was worrying about something.

“As good as it can go” Richard shrugged and placed a reassuring hand on Seanagh’s shoulders. “It’s just practice, don’t-”

“I know it doesn’t mean anything I just… I really want us to have a good year. That’s all” Seanagh sighed, last year had ended up being so dismal towards the end that the thought of going through it again when everyone was hyping up the car so much was almost painful.

“Well we won’t know until tomorrow” Richard shrugged and opened the door to hospitality letting Seanagh walk in first. With a sigh and a small shake of the head Seanagh looked around at her team, they certainly didn’t deserve another bad year, but sadly that decision wasn’t up to her. Seanagh just hoped that, for once in the hybrid era, the racing gods were going to be in Ferrari’s favour.

 

_Friday 24 th March_

She’d already tied up her hair when she got changed into her overalls that were now hanging from her waist, so Seanagh had her arms folded across her chest as she stood in between Vanessa and her father. She was tapping her fingers against her fireproofs as she waited for the signal that she could get in the car. Since Sebastian had just driven out of the garage Seanagh was itching to do the same, as always she had missed the buzz of driving more than she had realised.

“Okay!” Dave looked over towards his driver and gave her a nod and a thumbs up which sprung her into action. Seanagh turned round and put her arms through the sleeves of her overalls and zipped them up almost to the base of her chin. She plugged in her radio cables and gently put on her radio in-ears. She gave her Dad a reassuring smile as she pulled her balaclava over her head before putting on her helmet and clipping in the HANS device, as always leaving the gloves until she was in the car.

“Good luck sweetheart” Mark pulled Seanagh into a tight hug and kissed the top of her helmet.

“Thanks Dad” She had to shout so she could be heard through her helmet. Usually she’d sigh and say that it was just first practice, but it was her first proper competitive running in the new car, so this time as she always did in Australia she let her Dad off the hook.

“You’ll be fine” Vanessa smiled and patted Seanagh on the shoulder as she turned and headed over to her Ferrari, climbing in from the right side as always.

“Okay Seanagh radio check”

“Loud and clear Dave” Seanagh replied as she tightened her seatbelts to her liking and waited for Lucio to check that they were to his approval.

“She’s strapped in, ready to go” And with that, the rest of Seanagh’s mechanics removed the tyre blankets and lowered the car from its jacks onto the garage floor. Emilio walked backwards into the pit lane and looked once then twice over each shoulder, before beckoning Seanagh forward with his hand. She revved up the car and pulled forward a couple of feet just to be sure that her car was fine, before speeding out of the garage and out into the pit lane in clear air. Now for the install lap at least, it was just her, the car, and the track.

 

“Oh dear” Richard muttered under his breath as he bit down on his lower lip. “Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear…”

“Calm down Rich, she’s in fifth!” Vanessa hissed. As first practice was now over Mark slid the headset he had been wearing off his ears so it was hanging loose around his neck. He let out a long sigh and waited until Seanagh and her car were safely back in the garage before he moved. As Seanagh was already speaking to Dave and the rest of her engineers about how her initial runs went Mark decided to wait until lunch before he spoke to her.

“Dad!” Mark and a few of Seanagh’s mechanics looked up in surprise at the sight of Will waving at his Dad from the front of the Ferrari garage. He was only just stood in the pit lane as him becoming a fully-fledged photographer meant he had to give up his Ferrari garage visiting rights. Mark excused himself and squeezed his way through Seanagh’s mechanics and took a small step out into the pit lane. “So how did it go? Is she happy with the car?”

“Don’t know yet I’m afraid” Mark shrugged as he put on his sunglasses. “Nobody seems too concerned; a second off the pace isn’t great…” Mark spoke quietly in case any camera crews or journalists were still lingering around. “These are all brand news cars, we’ll only know on Saturday where they sit in the pecking order” Will hummed with a frown and started looking through his camera roll.

“I was sat at the end of the pit lane for the session, I got a great one of Mia and Seanagh” Will turned the camera round and showed Mark the screen; it showed Seanagh’s pootling her car down the pit lane with Mia in her Williams behind her. “Still don’t know where I’ll put myself for FP2”

“Maybe you can ask Seanagh over lunch”

“Do you think she’d mind?”

“Course not” Right on queue Seanagh finished talking with her engineers and joined her father and brother at the front of the garage.

“Hey, sorry had a lot to go through. Are we going for lunch?” Seanagh smiled and bounced up on her toes, she looked reasonably happy. Mark hoped that said more than what the timesheets did.

 

_Saturday 25 th March_

“And now the top ten shootout is underway, it won’t be long until we find out who’s going to bag the first pole position of the season”

Will huffed as the very Australian commentator announced over the circuit tannoy. He bounced up and down on his toes and wiped a little bit of sweat off his brow before bringing his camera up to his face. He’d decided to perch himself at turn one. It was pretty crowded as expected so Will didn’t quite grab the spot that he wanted, so he’d just have to make do with where he was.

He couldn’t help but smile when Seanagh drove past on her outlap. She’d finished fourth in that morning’s third practice session just under half a second slower than Sebastian, still it wasn’t great but she had practically matched the time of both Mercedes cars so that was an achievement in itself.

“Come on sis” Will sighed, snapping a few times as Seanagh drove past again, this time on her first timed run. When he’d been stood taking pictures during the practice sessions he’d felt nothing but calm. Now the lap times actually meant something, and considering this year was going to be a bit of an unknown that thought felt slightly terrifying.

 

Mark groaned as the cars went back out on tracks for their second – and final – quali runs. He was so filled with nerves he could barely watch and yet, he just couldn’t take his eyes off the screen above him. So he watched, Vanessa and Richard either side of him. All three of them wearing radio headsets so they knew everything that was going on with Seanagh’s car.

“Come on love” Mark spoke quietly, the FOM feed was currently following Lewis Hamilton so no one had any idea just how the Ferraris were doing.

First Bottas took provisional pole, then Hamilton went three tenths faster. Mark was very surprised when he found himself almost willing Sebastian on, and he let out a small cheer when he went just a few hundredths faster than Valtteri. Mark sighed in relief when Seanagh took fourth from Verstappen, and only just missed out on third by half a tenth.

The whole garage let out a sigh of relief and burst into humble applause, second and fourth on the grid and crucially, very close to the Mercedes in terms of lap time – meaning it was all to play for on race day.

 

_Sunday 26 th March_

Despite the later start, race day was its usual manic self. Everyone was up at around nine for a leisurely breakfast, and as the race didn’t start until four in the afternoon people didn’t start leaving for the circuit until around half past eleven. There the plan was for the drivers to have an early lunch and fit in their strategy meetings before the drivers parade, start of season photo and of course – the race itself.

Seanagh had arrived at the track in a small convoy, her and her entourage in one car with Jolyon and his Dad in the other. Since parking at the circuit even in the personnel area was pretty manic they agreed to meet at the paddock entrance. When they were in sight Jolyon greeted his family with a broad smile.

Once united the now reasonably large group formed a small queue at the turnstiles and went through one-by-one scanning their access passes. They walked together for a good few feet before they had to split into two exchanging a mass of goodbyes as each driver went to their own team towing their colleagues and loved ones behind them.

Seanagh smiled as she walked into the Ferrari building and spotted a few of her mechanics having lunch and beamed at them as she walked through the tables and headed over to her driver room to dump her bags and kick-start her pre-race schedule. Chicken, rice and pasta for lunch before a half hour meeting to agree on a standard one stop strategy before pulling her overalls on for the start of season drivers photo.

She ran into Sebastian as he left his own room and they walked together into the main hospitality area. They fixed their caps on their head and sunglasses over their eyes as Britta and Richard hastily led their drivers out into the paddock.

 

Mia huffed and began fussing over her overalls again, she’d deliberately arrived for the photo five minutes early to try and make a good impression for her new team. She hadn’t been lying when she spoke to Seanagh at testing, Williams really was great. Maybe it was the whole family ran team thing, but her first five minutes at the factory had felt so much better than her entire spell at Renault. She felt respected, like she truly was a part of the team and was worth something more to them than just driving the car.

Slowly more and more drivers began to arrive; Felipe greeted Mia with his usual cheery smile and a pat on the shoulder. For about the fifth time that day he wished Mia luck and said that she’d be fine, just another five times and Mia’s nerves would finally go away and she’d start to believe her team mate’s reassurances.

The sound of familiar laughter caused Mia to look up and she saw her former team mate and best friend trying to take a selfie together, the only small problem being that Jolyon was nearly a foot taller than his cousin. Eventually Seanagh went up onto the very tips of her toes and got the picture she wanted before sitting down in her assigned seat – right in front of Mia.

“Hey, you don’t want a picture with us?!” Felipe teased pretending to look quite offended. Seanagh turned round in her seat and smiled at both Williams drivers. She asked for a selfie, which the pair gleefully accepted to, and managed to get one of two more ‘normal’ pictures in amongst the goofy ones.

In a turn from the norm, Sebastian arrived pretty much at the same time as everyone else and waited until his own team mate had stopped taking pictures before he sat next down next to her.

“Just the one?” Sebastian replied after Seanagh asked him something quietly while smiling rather sweetly at him. Mia knew that look far too well and just rolled her eyes with a smirk. “Because I feel like Mia would have something to say about that” Seb pointed over his shoulder towards Mia and greeted her and Felipe with a small smile. Seanagh just chuckled and took one picture with Sebastian before Mia managed to somehow stick her head in between them.

Sadly all the fun was called to an end when Matteo called for all the drivers to face forwards and sit still for the cameras. The driver pictures almost always felt like being back at school, only this time the ordeal was over in just a minute or so, and when given the all clear everyone split off into their own groups and headed into the pit lane for the drivers parade, and after that; it was just one short hour before the start of the race.

 

“Did you speak to Mum this morning?”

“Yeah, you?”

“Yeah” Will nodded with a sigh and reluctantly got up from his spot on the floor. “I’m off” Seanagh nodded, the siblings waited a moment before lunging forward and hugging each other tightly. “Please be careful”

“I will, I promise” Seanagh smiled at her younger brother and gently rubbed his arm. “You just worry about this” She gestured to Will’s camera that he began to grip a little bit tighter. “You’ll be fine Will” Seanagh sort of understood the pressure her brother was under, he had to get some really good pictures today for his entire trip would be wasted. But Seanagh knew how talented Will was, it was why she had been so willing to help him cover his travel costs in the first place. “Love you”

“Love you too sis” They hugged for one last time before Will had to dash off if he wanted to get the good spot at turn four he had picked out on Thursday. With a small wave and a heartfelt goodbye Will left and Vanessa took his place, taking Seanagh through her final pre-race stretches before they walked over to the garage with Richard and Mark.

Seanagh jumped into her car and was safely strapped in before she was allowed to leave the garage and take her Ferrari to the grid. Thankfully she reported no problems to Dave over the radio and as soon as her mechanics as pushed the number sixteen car into the fourth slot on the grid Seanagh jumped out and rattled off everything to Dave, how the car felt, how fast it took for the tyres to warm up and so on. The race engineer just nodded as he wrote everything his driver had said and gave her a second strong nod before Seanagh was allowed to dart off for a comfort break.

It was now only twenty minutes before the start of the race, meaning Seanagh only had five before she was due to be at the front of the grid for the national anthem.

“Good luck sweetheart” Mark pulled his daughter into a tight hug and kissed the top of her head, rubbing his hands up and down her arms. “Just bring it home in one piece”

“Of course Dad” Seanagh smiled at Mark and hugged him again before she left the garage, nodding to her engineers as she went.

“Seanagh!” She spun round at the sight of Sebastian running back into the garage after his own comfort break. They said nothing and just hugged and walked back onto the grid together, wishing each other luck along the way.

 

Seanagh pulled her car back onto fourth on the grid, and then she waited. Her formation lap was done, her team had done everything they could. Now it was all on her to give them a good result. She closed her eyes for the briefest of moments, took in a deep breath and revved up the car, instantly finding the bite point on the clutch that she liked and she held the paddle down with her left hand, her foot hovering just millimetres off the accelerator pedal.

Then the red lights illuminated one after the other, after the other until all five of them were glowing in the late afternoon sun. It felt like an age before they went out, and all twenty cars shot out of their grid spots. Race on.

 

Will could hear the cars launch away, he held his camera ready, finger hovering over the shutter button ready to see the field snake their way through. The noise got louder as the cars got closer, and Will was briefly grateful that he remembered his ear plugs when the grid descended on turns three and four.

Hamilton led from Sebastian, but round the outside of turn three the second Ferrari, Seanagh’s Ferrari, over took Bottas’ Mercedes for third place.

Will cheered loudly as the cars sped past and left the small stretch of tarmac empty once more. He beamed as he looked over the mass of pictures he had taken. The high shutter speed meant he had taken at least twenty, and one showed Seanagh making the move on Valtteri.

“Bloody brilliant you are sis” Will shook his head and looked back up again knowing the cars would be coming back around very soon. He didn’t care if some of the other photographers were looking at him funny. His sister had just put herself into a podium position, Will could be as proud of her as he wanted.

 

“How are the tyres Seb?” Riccardo asked over the radio on the straight. Seb briefly looked down at his steering wheel and turned the necessary dials and switches before replying.

“Same as before, they feel good. No problems so far”

“Okay, Hamilton has been complaining about a lack of grip so we wanted to check” Seb frowned. The Mercedes struggling with their tyres already? There had only been fifteen or sixteen laps of the race done, that was certainly something that looked like an advantage for Ferrari.

“If anything changes I’ll let you know” Seb huffed and felt and awful lot better when he set the fastest lap, only for Lewis to take it back again on the next lap. He couldn’t help but be surprised that instead of going round to start another lap the Mercedes peeled off into the pits, handing the lead to Sebastian on a silver platter.

This was it then, time to push like hell so Seb would remain in the lead after his pit stop.

 

“He is going to pit at some point isn’t he?” Mark quietly muttered to Vanessa. Sebastian had done twenty laps on his ultrasoft tyres, the gap between him and Lewis now a good twenty seconds.

“Well that’s the plan” Vanessa exhaled a nervy sigh. “Although the tyres are a bit more durable this year so…” She just shrugged and resumed watching the FOM feed with a nervous twitch in her fingers.

A small handful of laps passed before Sebastian came into the pits, he was stationary for just seconds as he was given a new set of soft tyres and he was off again. Hamilton was just coming out of the last corner as the Ferrari steadily went down the pit lane and re-joined the track.

The garage erupted into noise – the whole garage, including Mark himself – as Sebastian emerged ahead of Lewis. In effective first place once Seanagh and Valtteri Bottas came in for their stops. So one Ferrari actually leading, and one set to take the lead once the pack shuffled itself back into order. Despite the fact that Bottas was charging Seanagh down she seemed to be holding her position and was still setting fairly reasonable lap times.

Mark sighed with relief and found himself smiling away as he watched the race. The sun was shining, Ferrari had for the first time made a good strategy call and looked set to win. It was turning out to be a really beautiful day.

 

Somehow, Sebastian found himself starting the last lap. In the lead. With ten seconds to the car behind him. It felt like some kind of dream, ever since testing he had been waiting, and waiting to get the car on track to see how good it really was. And it was turning out to be one of the best cars he had driven in such a long time.

Just corners were left now, he could just about see fans in the grandstands – many of them Tifosi – getting to their feet and applauding Seb as he neared the end of the last lap of the first race of the season. He eased through the last corner and floored it down the start-finish straight. He saw his mechanics leaning on the fencing and then the chequered flag as he crossed the line.

It was his. The 2017 Australian Grand Prix. He’d only gone and won it, on merit and all.

“P1 Sebastian, P1. Awesome drive, that’s the way to do it” Seb could hear the sound of applause behind Riccardo’s radio message. Maurizio gave his own short message of congratulations but Seb didn’t quite hear it over the buzz he now felt in every inch of his body. He gave a loud cheer into the radio and sent a message back in Italian. How he managed to get all the words out in the right order was beyond him but he didn’t care. He’d just won the race and nothing was going to beat that.

Seb pulled the car into parc ferme, stopping in front of the number one sign. After switching the car off Seb started at it for a moment before jumping out of his car and running over to his mechanics, jumping into their awaiting arms. He embraced as many of them as he could with pats on the back and shouts of Italian joy. Seb talked himself into taking off his helmet and balaclava, and pumped his fist in the air towards his team. He paused for a moment and looked at them all; there was an awful lot of them gathered behind the metal barrier. Surely he didn’t have that many people working on his side of the garage. Unless…

“Sebastian!” A call from his right made Sebastian look over to see a very proud Mark stood next to an emotional looking Richard. A few feet away Seanagh was busy congratulating her own mechanics. Seb walked over to Mark and the pair clapped each other on the shoulder with wide grins. “Congratulations, Seanagh got third” Seb beamed at that fact and briefly looked over towards his team mate, and sure enough her Ferrari was parked in front of the number three sign.

“Thanks Mark” A call from a random FIA delegate told Seb he needed to be on the podium which was music to his ears. So he shook Mark’s hand and patted Richard on the shoulder and turned to go inside. He was only a few steps of the way up towards the podium when he caught up to Seanagh and placed a gentle hand on her upper back. “Well done” Seanagh turned to look at him, a bright smile etched onto her face.

“Well done yourself” Seanagh giggled as she reached the top of the stairs and walked by Seb’s side into the podium cool down room where Lewis was sat by himself looking rather pensive.

“Congratulations guys” Lewis stood up and shook both their hands before he sat back down again. Seanagh placed her helmet down on the small table and towelled down her face and drank the small bottle of water almost in one go. Her smile never once showing any sign of fading away. “That was pretty close at the end with you and Valtteri” Lewis spoke to Seanagh sounding slightly impressed. Seanagh huffed out a puff of hair with a shrug and took a moment to compose herself.

“What happened?”

“Well I got past Valtteri at turn three at the start, and I don’t think he liked it because he did the same to me on the last lap. So I overtook him back again going into turn seven” Seanagh spoke almost breathlessly with a smile and went about fussing over her hair as she took out her ponytail to redo it before fixing her podium cap on her head.

The podium felt almost surreal, Seb leaped into the air once he was on the top step and he just couldn’t stop smiling through the German and Italian national anthems. Once presented with his trophy he lofted it high up in the air so all of the team could see it, it was theirs as much as it was his after all. When Seanagh was presented with her trophy Sebastian proudly applauded and gave her a bright smile, with the pair patting each other on the back as the delegates and officials left the podium – a mass of green and gold confetti taking their place as the top three drivers sprayed champagne all over each other in celebration.

The trio clinked their bottles together and took one final swig before standing together for the official photograph. Out of the corner of his eye Seb saw Will standing in the photographers area to the left of the podium. The pair nodded at each other, he too had a wide grin and looked as if he could burst from happiness.

The podium interviews came and went; Sebastian was so overcome with joy and elation that he ended up hugging Mark Webber. Something that seemed to take everyone by surprise.

As the drivers walked off the podium Seanagh and Sebastian left together, with the Brit promising Seb a drink back at the hotel that her Dad was more than happy to pay for. Because Seb’s day apparently hadn’t been good enough already. He happily accepted the offer as they returned to the cool down room, where everyone’s trainers and press officers had been waiting patiently.

“You little stars!” Richard pulled both drivers into his arms for a hug. Antti, Vanessa and Britta were all so excited they all squeezed in meaning the group of six were all squished together in a very emotional group hug.

“I love you guys, I couldn’t have asked for a better weekend and a lot of it has been down to you so… Thank you” Seanagh and everyone else stood out of the hug, she looked at everyone in turn and smiled at each of them. They all saw how her eyes seemed to linger on Sebastian but no one said anything since the race result was so, so much more important than a five second long gaze.

It had taken Ferrari three years but they had finally thrown the gauntlet down to Mercedes. The championship fight at long last was well and truly on.


	36. Night Flights and Desert Duels

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ferrari really are back

_Sunday 9 th April – Pudong International Airport, Shanghai _

The whole Ferrari team walked onto their flight bleary eyed, it only took one person to yawn to set everyone else off. It was very late, about twenty past ten with the flight due to take off at eleven. The whole journey, that included a layover in Dubai as there was no direct flight from Shanghai to Bahrain, was going to be the grand total of fourteen hours and forty minutes, the very definition of long haul. Back-to-back races really were the worst.

Seanagh found her seat with Will, one of the seats was taken by Antti who was by the window. They all said hello to each other and Will took his seat in the middle with Seanagh in the aisle seat.

“Good job today”

“Thanks Antti” Seanagh yawned and covered her mouth with her hand. She’d finished the race in third a few seconds behind Sebastian who was second. Lewis had ended up winning the race making him and Seb now equal on points in the drivers’ standings – but as Seb had taken the first win of the season it meant he was still the championship leader.

Will yawned and leaned over to rest his head on Seanagh’s shoulder. “Hey” Seanagh wriggled her shoulder in attempt to get her brother to sit up. “You have to sit up for take-off Will” Will said nothing and let out an unimpressed grumble. Antti managed to pull Will off Seanagh’s shoulder so he was sat up in his seat. The Finn breathed a sigh of relief when Sebastian and Britta walked past them and took their seats a few rows down.

Eventually the plane was filled with passengers and at eleven exactly the plane took off, leaving China behind heading for the next race.

 

Sebastian groaned as Britta made her fifth attempt to wake him up. He opened his eyes and yawned and patted both sides of his face to try and wake himself up faster.

“We’re landing in twenty minutes Sebastian” Seb groaned again and leaned back in his seat with his eyes closed. “Don’t fall back asleep!” Britta exclaimed in German and gave her driver a gentle whack on the arm.

“Okay, okay!” Seb raised his hands and yawned again. He would have stood up and taken a walk around the cabin to wake him up even further, but just as he thought about it the seatbelt sign came back on. So she let out a small sigh and made himself comfortable in his seat.

He looked out of the window and watched as the plane safely landed in Dubai. Since it was quarter past five in the morning it was still fairly dark. As the plane taxied down the runway Seb changed the time on his watch and jumped out of his seat as soon as the plane was stationary to retrieve his and Britta’s backs from the overhead locker.

He looked over his shoulder to Seanagh’s seat and saw that her and Will were still asleep, Will had his head nestled on his sisters’ shoulder and Seanagh’s head was resting on top of Will’s. Vanessa squeezed her way past Sebastian and went to wake her driver up. Seb shook his head and made a mental note to buy everyone in their small group a coffee since they had a whole three hour layover to waste away.

 

After walking from arrivals straight into departures the usual group of six plus Will were all sat in another coffee shop of yet another airport. They were only going to the third race of the season but they were starting to get sick of airports already. Sebastian had bought everyone coffee and a Danish pastry of their choice as a lazy breakfast and they were all making quiet small talk while Will was checking up on his emails.

Apparently he’d stayed up late on the flight making advantage of the free on-board WiFi and had started posting his pictures from the last race up onto his website. He let out a sigh as he clicked onto another email, his chin being propped up by his hand for support. Part-way through reading the email Will gasped and smacked his hand against the table as it fell in shock.

“Will?” Seanagh asked her brother already looking worried.

“Read this so I know I haven’t just made that up” Seanagh turned the laptop towards her and started reading the email. After a few seconds her eyes widened and her jaw dropped before she let out an excited squeal and hugged her brother’s arm tightly.

“What is it?” Britta asked calmly.

“Someone from The Guardian has emailed me asking my permission to use one of my pictures for their online sports section” Sebastian immediately jumped up and bought Will another coffee as he very excitedly typed out a reply. Seanagh just beamed at her little brother and felt a sense of pride wash over her as she texted Jolyon and Mia to tell them the good news.

It took an hour or so for everyone to calm down from the excitement and by that time their connecting flight to Bahrain was called for boarding. Again the flight was filled with everyone from Ferrari and within an hour and a half the team had landed; feeling only partially rested for the next race that was just a few days ahead of them.

 

_Friday 14 th April – Bahrain International Circuit_

“Oh no, no… No!” Seanagh sighed and hit her hand against the steering wheel in frustration as she saw what she was fairly certain looked like smoke coming out of the back of her car. She pulled the Ferrari to a stop instantly near a fire marshal post right at the start of the straight that led to the final corner. After exchanging a quick message to Dave over the radio she switched off the car and jumped out of it and helped the marshals push the Ferrari behind the metal barrier where it would be collected at some point during the practice session. With a small sigh Seanagh leisurely walked over to her brother, who had just so happened to be standing part-way down the straight right behind the barrier.

“Hey” Seanagh gently put her helmet down on the ground by her feet and gave a small smile to her brother. “So how’s your birthday going?” A wry smile appeared on Will’s face before one of the Saubers went by; Will snapped his camera few times before replying.

“I’d be enjoying it a lot more if you were still on track” It was Will’s twenty third birthday, and he was unknowingly going to spend it in the Ferrari hospitality building as they had a special birthday cake made for him which was going to be presented to Will in the lunch hour between practices one and two.

“I best head back to the garage I’ll see you later”

“Wait!” Seanagh froze and shook her head with a smile as Will took a few pictures of Seanagh’s helmet with her feet in the background, she didn’t ask and just assumed that it looked like a nice shot. “Now you can go back to the pits” The siblings exchanged quick goodbyes and Seanagh decided to walk back to the pits since it was only a straight away.

Sadly the section of track appeared to be longer than Seanagh had thought it was so she ended up using the time to think. Mainly about how Sebastian currently had the fastest time of the session and Seanagh was already facing the prospect of taking a new engine after only a handful of laps of running. There was a very small part of Seanagh’s brain that thought it was better for her to be having reliability problems instead of Sebastian but she very quickly shook that thought off. The rest of her brain was set on the fact that she shouldn’t be having any reliability problems at all. It was only the third race of twenty.

Finally Seanagh arrived back at the pits and she made her way over to the Ferrari pit wall to check in on how the team was doing. Thankfully Sebastian wasn’t having any mechanical problems, but Dave had no clue as to what had caused Seanagh’s engine to blow. Until the team got the car back they were all hoping that it was just the heat. So with that and a reassuring word from Maurizio that there would be no more problems Seanagh jumped down from the pit wall and dived into the garage, apologising to all of her mechanics for what happened, with almost all of them promising that they would fix the mystery problem as soon as they found it.

As Seanagh finally found herself at the back of the garage with Vanessa she partially took off her overalls and let them hang off her waist. She ran a hand through her hair and looked back out over her side of the garage. She felt so incredibly lucky to have such good people working on her car; she only hoped that at some point over the season she would pay them back with a win too.

 

_Sunday 16 th April_

Seb carefully weaved his car down the back straight, trying to get as much heat as he could into his tyres in the rapidly cooling air. He had the two Mercedes in front of him with Daniel and Seanagh behind. He needed to win today to steer the championship back on track in his favour and for everyone in the garage so show them all that they really had made a car good enough to fight for the title, not just occasional podiums and race wins. He pulled into his grid slot and waited for the red lights to glow before they suddenly went out just as quickly.

Seb launched his car off the grid, he’d already pulled up alongside Lewis as they approached the braking zone for turn one. He pressed hard on the brake pedal and turned the car right making sure to give the Mercedes some space just in case there was some kind of incident. But thanks to his great start Seb took second place before he’d even made the apex of the corner.

He followed Bottas for about ten laps before coming in for his first scheduled stop, after a few stationary seconds he was away with a set of supersoft tyres. The team had agreed that while the two stop was risky it was worth it for a middle stint on the fastest tyre.

The safety car came out just a few laps later, Seb inquired as to who it was for (Mia and Carlos having a mishap at turn one) and asked if they were okay (they were pissed off, but fine) before going to back to focusing on his race. The safety car seemed to play to his advantage as while all the cars in front of him pitted, Seb took the lead. So he went back to weaving his car to keep the tyres warm so he wasn’t driving on ice blocks by the time the safety car came back into the pits.

While tyre warming techniques did work, his line out of turn two certainly didn’t. Valtteri instantly pulled up alongside him meaning Seb had to take the inside line into turn three. He sped away from the apex with the Mercedes still alongside him, but as soon as Sebastian straightened up his Ferrari Valtteri fell back into second place. Seb breathed a small sigh of relief before taking the next sequence of corners and let himself think about what to do next down the back straight.

It wasn’t until lap thirty four when Seb was finally brought into the pit for his final stop. Finally he had a set of soft tyres and again sped away after two still seconds that always seemed to feel so, so much longer. He’d done just enough to come out in front of Ricciardo which did gave Sen a huge boost of confidence as he clipped the turn one apex. He got past Seanagh (who had been in second) far too easily considering his team mate was on older tyres, he didn’t even have the time to think about hoping that his team mate would join him on the podium considering the fifteen second gap he had between himself and Lewis.

Ferrari had known since Thursday’s meetings that the race was going to be a waiting game, especially with the two stop strategy. And then all of a sudden the race practically fell into Seb’s lap when Lewis came into the pits for a surprise second stop, and that teamed with his five second penalty meant that Sebastian was well clear of the Mercedes, almost by twenty seconds to Hamilton in third with Bottas nine seconds back in second.

He didn’t realise it but down the back straight Seb was grinning like Cheshire cat, the strategy had worked, he was leading the race and setting brilliant lap times. Ferrari had finally made their comeback and Sebastian was loving every second of it.

 

Seanagh pulled out her radio in ears has she made her way over to scrutineering to be weighed. She’d finished fourth only two seconds behind Valtteri so she could have finished on the podium if she had been just a little bit faster, despite her late second pit stop. But that was how the cookie had crumbled so Seanagh just had to start accepting it.

Sebastian had won of course. Before Seanagh passed under the podium she looked up just as Sebastian walked out, doing some kind of strange Ancient Egyptian style dance before jumping up and down in the air like an excited five year old on Christmas Day. She just let out a small chuckle and shook her head before walking into scrutineering and joined the small queue of drivers.

It had been years since she had seen Sebastian that happy. She remembered two years ago in Malaysia when she had briefly spoken to him to congratulate him on his first Ferrari win. Seanagh was being nothing more than sporting but a tiny part of her had felt happy for him then. That same part of her was now delighted he had won.

As Seanagh was called onto the scales her mind instantly recalled that day, she’d been sat on the McLaren pit wall watching the race and had seen the small army of Ferrari mechanics descend on the pit lane when Sebastian had won. Back then she would never, ever have imagined joining the team and becoming one of them as she was now.

Once she’d been weighed and Vanessa was happy Seanagh walked back out into the pit lane to head back to the garage. Judging by the loud music Seb, Lewis and Valtteri were spraying each other with rose water, which was confirmed by the small droplets that landed on Seanagh and Vanessa’s heads.

For some odd reason, Seanagh felt the need to go over to Sebastian’s mechanics and congratulate them for the win, something which they all seemed to appreciate.

She huffed as she walked down the pits, Vanessa was saying something about how hard it was going to be to pass Valtteri since he would probably be quite pissed at being pushed down to third after starting from pole. Seanagh looked down at the Ferrari logo on her chest and she ended up smiling as she ran her fingers across the black prancing horse. She would have to win a race this season at some point, she had to.

 

“Sorry you missed out on the podium”

“Next time piccolina, you’ll be up there!” A couple of Sebastian’s mechanics patted Seanagh on the shoulder as they made their way to their seats. Seanagh just smiled politely at them as a way of saying thank you, not that she wanted their sympathy anymore, fourth was far better than fifth after all.

“26, 25, 24… ah. Hello 23A” Seanagh looked up and saw Sebastian, who was grinning away to himself and holding his boarding pass and passport in his hand.

“So you’re 23B” Seanagh smirked as Seb put his backpack under his seat.

“Yeah, I got sent to 32A by accident; let’s just say I didn’t fancy stealing Lucio’s seat” Seanagh hummed and watched as Sebastian sat down in the seat next to her.

As there were no direct flights from Bahrain back to Italy (let alone at quarter past two in the morning) the whole team was flying to London first, then getting a connection flight back home to Italy. All apart from Seanagh, Will, Richard, Vanessa and Sebastian, who had agreed to stay at Seanagh’s flat for a couple of days instead of going back to Switzerland.

“So, nearly seven and a half hours stuck with you” Seanagh teased. Her and Seb were sat on the outer two seat row meaning they only had themselves for company. Seb let out a small chuckle and smiled at his team mate.

“This is the part where you say you’ve had worse company” The pair laughed and Seanagh briefly touched Sebastian’s arm without thinking.

“Congratulations on the win by the way”

“You already congratulated me…” Seb sighed as he pulled his headphones from his jacket pocket and began to untangle them. “How are you feeling anyway?”

“About fourth?” Seb nodded and Seanagh let out a long sigh.

“Fourth is fourth” Seanagh shrugged. “I just feel like the typical racing driver who’s upset about missing the podium” Sebastian shook his head and gave up on detangling his earphones and placed a hand on top of Seanagh’s instead.

“Podium or not. I’m still proud of you”

“Thanks Seb” Seanagh replied quietly and looked down at her shoes. She didn’t see Seb look around the cabin to make sure no one was watching them, but she did feel him kiss her temple and speak gently in her ear.

“Mein lieblingsmensch” Seanagh’s cheeks went bright red and she couldn’t help but smile.

“You too schatzi” Seb began to grin as one of the flight attendants came over and politely asked Seb to put his bag in the overhead locker. He got up from his seat to do so and the flight attendant went to leave until she saw Seanagh went completely wide eyed before quickly hurrying off with a hurried skip down the cabin.

“Ladies and Gentlemen welcome aboard this British Airways flight from Bahrain to London Heathrow. If you could all kindly take your seats and fasten your seatbelts, and fold away your tray tables with your seats in the upright position as we are due to depart in approximately fifteen minutes”

“Finally” Sebastian sighed as he went to switch off his phone. Seanagh quickly looked back a few rows to make sure that Will was okay before she did the same and looked out the small oval window. “You know it feels so strange”

“What does?” Seanagh drew her gaze away from the view of the airport runway and back over to Sebastian.

“Being back in the title fight again” Seanagh said nothing and gently patted Seb’s knee with a small smile.

“It’s about time if you ask me” Seanagh gave a longing sigh and went back to looking out the window.

“What is it?”

“Nothing” Seanagh lied, after a couple of moments she ended up telling the truth anyway. “Just… I’m probably getting far too ahead of myself. But could you imagine if we won in Monaco” Seanagh smiled, already beginning to picture the scene in her head. It had been sixteen years since Ferrari had last won at Monaco, which in everyone’s mind was sixteen years too long.

“Yeah” A lazy smile found its way onto Sebastian’s face. “It has been a while” Seb sighed, it had of course also been six years since his first and yet only Monaco win. And now he finally had the car to do it again. The only problem was his team mate had that same car too. “Whoever wins would have to go to the post-race gala dinner all by themselves though” Seb shrugged as the plane was pushed back out of its departure gate.

“I’ve never understood why they do that” Seanagh frowned as she paid half her attention to the safety demonstration. She’d seen it so many times she could pretty much do it herself. “I think you might call me crazy for what I’m about to suggest” Seanagh spoke quietly so only Seb would hear.

“What doing this demonstration ourselves” Seb smirked.

“No, say we’re lucky enough to get a 1-2 at Monaco” Seb hummed in acknowledgment. “We could go to the gala thing together, I’m sure Richard and Britta would find a way to spin that into a positive team spirit story” Seb hummed again. Britta was one of the few who could turn a wet paper bag into a good story, and Richard certainly wasn’t that bad either.

“At least we’d both have a nice dance partner” Seb chuckled, Seanagh jokingly rolled her eyes.

“You don’t have to if you don’t want to. Was just a thought”

“No… it’s good. I’ll think about it” Seanagh didn’t know that Seb had already made up his mind and was just delaying his response to not seem too eager. So instead she just nodded with a small okay as the plane finally begin to taxi down the runway, before gathering speed and taking off on its seven and a half hour journey back to the UK.

Considering how late it now was – almost twenty past two in the morning – pretty much the whole team fell asleep within minutes, leaving the cabin crew with nothing much else to do other than go to sleep themselves.

A few of them went round the plane just to make sure all of the passengers were safe and well. The one who had told the nice man in 23B to put his bag away walked quietly through World Traveller Plus so not to disturb anyone.

As it turned out, the pre-flight gossip was true and the actual Seanagh Palmer from the actual Ferrari F1 team were on the flight right after the Bahrain Grand Prix. As she passed seats 23A and B she quickly checked to make sure that Miss Palmer and her friend were alright, only to see them both fast asleep with their hands entwined together.

In the name of common decency she quickly got a large blanket from the spares cupboard and went back to drape it over the pair’s laps – crucially hiding their hands from view. One of the passengers in Club World had been boasting about working for The Sun and quite frankly, she wasn’t going to risk some lame excuse of a journalist breeching the privacy of two of her passengers.

With a satisfied nod she went back to the front of the plane and checked in with her superior before making her way up to the tiny rest area that sat above first class. She took off her shoes and climbed into the small and quite cramped bed before, like everyone else on the plane, finally falling asleep.


	37. Bittersweet

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Joy and frustration all at the same time

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another longer than usual chapter (I seem to have forgotten how to write shorter chapters, whoops). Sorry for taking so long with this, I'm back at university now for my final semester so gaps between updates might vary but I'll try my best to keep it semi-regular.

_Wednesday 24 th May – Monte Carlo, Monaco_

Monaco always seemed to look glorious, even in the rain. Thankfully for all the journalists stood outside in the press pen waiting on drivers to arrive, the sun was shining brightly. It made the marina waters sparkle and the paddock gleam like freshly cut diamonds. Yet all the sunshine meant it was warm even for late-spring, meaning that mechanics were in garages putting the cars together, and the rest of the teams were huddled in the shelter of their large motorhomes.

Including Seanagh’s family, who were keeping the promise they had made over the Winter that they would attend as many races as they could. Sadly only Will had been in Russia to see Ferrari’s double podium, but thankfully Mary was there in Barcelona, where Sebastian was surprisingly chipper about finishing second after a tense battle with Lewis, while Seanagh suffered a suspension failure after an incident with Verstappen at the first corner.

So in a show of support the entire Palmer clan had descended on the principality, and had ended up being sat next to the Vettels. Mark and Norbert were chatting away happily, and Will was showing Fabian his photography website, leaving Mary and Heike to make acquaintances.

“So what is it you do? Norbert mentioned something about British Airways but he couldn’t remember what”

“Ah” Mary gave a small smile; she loved her job and was very proud of it. “I’m the Senior Operations Manager at Edinburgh Airport” As everyone always reacted when Mary spoke her job title; Heike raised her eyebrows slightly looking rather impressed. “I’ve been with BA nearly thirty five years now; I just started off as Cabin Crew like everyone else and worked my way up” Mary shrugged and took another sip of her tea. “Funnily enough that was how I met Mark actually” She blushed as she looked down at the table.

“Oh?” Heike enquired leaning forward as Mark and Norbert laughed over something that had happened at Mark’s garage the other week. While Mary told the story of how her and Mark met; the front door to the Ferrari motorhome opened, and Sebastian, Seanagh and their stream of engineers returned from their track walk.

The large red clad group walked in with an air of chatter and excitement. Seanagh and Sebastian left their engineers and went over to each other and began talking vividly as if they were the only two people in the room, hanging onto every single word the other spoke. Their parents seemed to notice as their conversations trailed off while Seanagh and Sebastian laughed over something.

“He wasn’t too much trouble at Seanagh’s birthday was he?” Heike leaned forward and asked.

“Oh no…”

“It was quite nice to have him there actually” Mary hummed and nodded along with her husband. Eventually Britta and Richard arrived to steal their drivers away for their press duties, Seanagh in the press conference and Sebastian in the motorhome doing small interviews before both drivers were due in the press pen after lunch. “Anyone want a refill?” Mark asked, tapping his finger against his empty polystyrene cup, everyone nodded and Mark left to go over to the bar as the plasma TV screens along the wall flickered into life to show the drivers press conference.

 

_Friday 26 th May – Mortola Inferiore, Italy_

Italy, much like Monaco and the South of France, was basking in the late May sunshine. And since Monaco’s altered race schedule allowed it, Seanagh and Jenson (who was on his reserve driver duties while Fernando was at the Indy 500) had driven just over the border into Italy for a quick catch up over coffee. They stopped at a village that Jenson used to frequent on his cycling training sessions that had a small café perched right by the sea. Seanagh had picked a table with the best view while Jenson ordered their coffees. He returned after a few minutes and sat down with a content sigh and a small smile before glancing down at his watch.

“We’ve been in Italy for five minutes and you haven’t been mobbed by the Tifosi yet” Jenson chuckled.

“That’s probably because they’re all enjoying the weather” Seanagh rolled her eyes behind her sunglasses. “So nice to get out of Monaco though” While she did like the principalities charm, for some reason it wore off rather quickly, probably something to do with the awful traffic. “So how are you enjoying California then?”

“Well” Jenson grinned as he leaned back in his chair and pulled his phone out his pocket. “It’s amazing. I know it’ll sound like a cliché but the weather is stunning almost all the time and where Brittny has her place it’s great if you want to go for a drive or a bike ride… Honestly I love it; I couldn’t imagine leaving to be honest”

“Really?”

“Yeah… I mean Monaco’s nice but I don’t think it was ever really home” They were interrupted by one of the waitresses bringing their drinks over. She placed them down gently and did a double take when she saw Seanagh before trying not to rush back inside. “Let me guess that happens all the time?” Jenson smirked and took a small sip of his latte.

“Yeah, it’s so strange. I swear more people recognise me in Italy than back in the UK” Seanagh shook her head with a bemused laugh.

“I can’t believe they gave you a nickname and everything!”

“It was my mechanics that started that, everyone else just caught onto it”

“Yeah but they didn’t even give Sebastian a nickname”

“Everyone just calls him Seb” Seanagh shrugged before taking a longer sip of her cappuccino.

“How are you and him getting on by the way?” Seanagh hummed, knowing what Jenson had just asked was probably why he wanted them to catch up to begin with. Because while the two former team mates still kept in touch via text and the rare phone call, Seanagh’s current team mate never got asked about.

“Considering the… rather unique circumstances, surprisingly well” Seanagh paused as Jenson merely raised his eyebrows at her, knowing she wanted to say more. “It’s just…” Jenson placed his cup back on its saucer and leaned forward. “I’ve seen Seb and Lewis win races… even Valtteri won in Russia. I’m the only one in the top four who hasn’t and…”

“It’s pissing you off?”

“You have no idea” Seanagh sighed and rested one of her elbows on the table and propped her chin up with her hand. “I mean I know the car’s good, so it’s obviously me and I still can’t figure out why I can’t win”

“Well first of all, it’s not you. It’s just one of those seasons where you can be at your absolute best and the other guy is just better. You’ve had some great podiums so far mate, sometimes it’s a waiting game for the right opportunity to turn up, and hey; tomorrow might be a good place to start” Seanagh rolled her eyes and frowned.

“Jense I have zero luck around Monaco, I only got one podium in the junior series and that was because the guy who won got disqualified”

“I’d say that’s pretty lucky” Their conversation moved away from racing, and onto how Seanagh was considering buying a small place on the outskirts of Maranello to stay in when she was at the factory since her hotel bills were starting to pile up even though she’d only stay in Italy a few days at a time. It was pretty big decision by anyone’s standards, one that hung on whether or not Seanagh would be staying on at Ferrari after the end of the season.

After finishing their drinks and leaving a generous tip they left their table and slowly began to walk back to their cars only to be stopped by the café’s waitress running towards the pair shouting for them to stop.

“Per favore…” She doubled over trying to catch her breath at rushing after the two drivers so frantically. She held up a small digital camera and Seanagh gave the girl a small smile.

“Would you like a picture?” Seanagh asked in Italian and got a very excited reply. “Jenson would you mind?”

“Not at all mate” Seanagh waited for the waitress to stand up before she gently placed a hand on her shoulder. Jenson took the photo when both girls were smiling and cautiously handed the camera back.

“Grazie, grazie Piccolina. Grazie mille!” With a bright smile the waitress ran back to the café and Seanagh and Jenson continued their walk over to their cars.

“They really have taken you to heart haven’t they?” Jenson looked bemused, as if he never could have imagined such a thing happening in the first place. “I stand by what I said last year you know”

“Which was what?”

“Ferrari have got no clue how lucky they are to have you driving that car”

 

_Saturday 27 th May – Monaco_

Everyone in the Ferrari garage let out a shaky breath when both cars left for their second and final run in Q3. As things stood, it was going to be Seanagh on pole with Sebastian in third. Neither of their families could look at anything else bar the TV screens above them, everyone had been very sporting and wished each other luck ahead of qualifying. A small part of goodwill remained, but despite both sides of the garage being Ferrari to the core, they both wanted their driver to come out on top.

It was the same on the pit wall, Dave and Riccardo had shook hands and gave their best wishes for the other driver before solely focussing on their own.

By the time Seanagh had started her proper timed run all Dave could do was watch the data screens and just about remember to breathe. He hoped and prayed that nothing would go wrong with the car as his eyes followed the small red dot on the tracking screen.

Seanagh’s sector times looked good, marginally faster than compared with her first run and Dave held his breath as Seanagh exited the final corner and powered across the line, improving by a tenth to set a 1m 12.178. Dave’s attention then turned to Sebastian’s car. It wasn’t that he wanted Seb to be slow or to do badly; he had never felt that about the German and hoped he never would. All Dave wanted was for his driver to do well.

As Sebastian crossed the line Dave was caught in a state of shock for a few seconds before he started to grin and finally sent a radio message to his driver with a small lump in his throat.

“Well done Seanagh, you beat Sebastian by just under half a tenth. That’s your first Ferrari pole position, congratulations”

 

Pole position. Her first for Ferrari. At Monaco. It didn’t get much more perfect than that.

Seanagh screamed in delight down the radio before thanking just about everyone in an over-excited ramble. She almost started crying when she pulled her car into parc ferme and saw her mechanics jumping up and down and cheering, acting as if she had already won the race. As soon as she switched off the car she jumped out of her Ferrari and ran right into her mechanics arms and cheered with them as they all began chanting in Italian.

Mark and Mary ran out of nowhere and smothered their daughter with hugs before she had to be almost pulled away towards Will Buxton who was conducting the post-qualifying interviews. Seanagh pulled off her helmet and quickly got weighed before handing her helmet and everything else over to a clearly overjoyed Vanessa while Richard, who definitely had tears in his eyes, gave Seanagh her cap with a bright grin and led Seanagh to where the journalist was standing with a TV camera in front of him.

“Now Seanagh…” She smiled through teary eyes and adjusted her cap as her mechanics gave another loud cheer. “You’ve just made history today, not only your first pole position with Ferrari, but the first woman to do so with the Scuderia and the first female racing driver to get a pole in Monaco, it alluded you so much in the junior series, how, if you can find the words, does it feel to achieve this today?”

“Amazing” Seanagh beamed and ran a hand across her face. “I’m truly lost for words right now I just… I always thought that Monaco was a bogey track for me, but I finally had a bit of luck and I’m so incredibly happy to be able to achieve this result for Ferrari today” Sebastian came over once Seanagh had finished speaking and gave his team mate a quick hug and a warm smile.

“Sebastian, you were agonisingly close to Seanagh at the end, just 43 hundredths short. Are you annoyed to have missed out on pole by such a small margin considering how important it is around here?”

“I think, on days like today when your team mate gets their first pole for the team it doesn’t feel so bad. It’ll be tough tomorrow but still to get a 1-2 today is great for the team, as you can see it means so much to everyone. Hopefully we can replicate it tomorrow”

“The Scuderia haven’t won here for sixteen years. How much are you two going to give to end that streak tomorrow?” Both drivers beamed before replying in unison.

“Everything!”

 

It had just gone six in the evening when the drivers and their families arrived back at their hotel; they headed straight into the restaurant where the Palmers and Vettels ended up being sat not that far away from each other. The youngest of both families was excitedly rambling on about how amazing and exciting qualifying had been; Will spoke about how perching himself at Tabac had been the scariest and most amazing experience of his life while Fabian wouldn’t stop going on about how awesome the new cars looked.

It was a while before they all trundled themselves to bed, Seanagh thought she had been the last to exit the lift when someone tapped her on the shoulder. She turned round startled and sighed in relief at the sight of her team mate who was panting lightly.

“Did you actually just run up three flights of stairs?” Seanagh asked with a shake of the head. Seb had gotten out the lift he had shared with his team mate, Heike and Will with the assumption that he was going back to his room.

“I might have done” Seanagh sighed as she opened the door to her hotel room.

“You’re an idiot Seb”

“Your idiot though” Seanagh stopped when she was inside her room and was almost tempted to call Sebastian out on how cheesy his line was when he followed her in and closed the door with one hand and cupped Seanagh’s face with the other. Seb leaned down and kissed her softly to begin with before deepening the kiss and running his now free hand through her hair as Seanagh wrapped her arms round his waist. They pulled away from the kiss at the same time and beamed at each other.

“I’m so proud of you darling” Seb smiled as he brushed his thumb across Seanagh’s cheekbone. Seanagh’s face went bright red and she briefly looked down only for Sebastian to tilt her head back up again. “I mean it”

“I know you do” Seanagh’s smile faded when she realised what time it was. “You can’t stay can you?”

“No, we have a race to focus on anyway”

“Yeah…” Since by some strange turn of events Lewis was starting in thirteenth, it was probably going to be a race between both Ferraris for the win. An opponent neither of them ever wanted to face. “No underhand tactics tomorrow right?”

“As we agreed before, just fair racing”

“Okay” Seanagh replied quietly and dropped her arms from Sebastian as he did the same stuffing his hands in his pockets. The downside of them both being racers meant they were both so desperate for the win – in Seb’s case so he could extend his championship lead, and with Seanagh she was longing to show everyone that she could still win a race. And that she wasn’t going to let her team mate walk all over her just because he was in the title fight.

 

_Sunday 27 th May – Circuit de Monaco_

Seanagh let out a long slow breath as she looked at the sight of turn one in front of her before turning back towards Dave. Her mechanics had just pulled the car into the pole position spot on the grid and Seanagh had jumped out at the earliest opportunity to reel every bit of information she had about how the car had felt.

“And you know the strategy?”

“Lap thirty three for supers” Dave nodded at his driver and gave her a reassuring smile.

“You’ll be fine Seanagh, we’re all behind you. It’s not ideal going up against the other side of the garage but… It is how it is”

“Yeah” Seanagh huffed and fixed on a smile. “Best go see my parents” She jogged back over to the garage through the melee of people and found her Mum and Dad stood at the back with Sebastian’s family waiting for the race start. Mark and Mary hugged their daughter tightly and wished her luck before saying that they loved her with slightly teary eyes.

“Good luck Seanagh” Norbert gave her a small smile just as she was about to leave.

“Yes, good luck” Seanagh politely smiled and thanked Seb’s parents before walking back onto the grid for the national anthem. Before she knew it she was in the car pulling away from the grid for the formation lap, one of the most crucial starts of her career was just minutes away.

 

So much could happen during the race at Monaco. Despite the fact that Seanagh had launched her car off the grid at the start leaving her team mate for dust, that really didn’t matter anymore. Thirty three laps had now passed and Seanagh had just left the pits with her fresh set of tyres bolted onto the car. Sebastian now had a good twenty second advantage on her as he was due to stop later so Seanagh knew she had to push during those next few laps to keep her lead.

While before the race Maurizio hadn’t given the drivers’ permission to race each other properly because the nature of the narrow street circuit wouldn’t allow it, he had promised that during the pit stops they were both going to be treated as equally as humanly possible, which firmly left the outcome in their hands. Meaning that mistakes on their part either had to be minimal or completely non-existent.

“Okay Seanagh he’s in the pits now” She got the message about five laps later right as Seanagh was on the approach to Tabac corner. Seanagh pushed through the third sector, hoping that it would be enough as she powered down the main straight. “You’ll be close on the pit exit. Be careful he is your team mate” As Seanagh braked for turn one she could clearly see Sebastian exiting the pits alongside her. Both Ferraris ran side by side on the run up to casino square, Seanagh knew that Sebastian was now on the ideal racing line for that corner and the track was starting to narrow, so rather than risk a crash – she let Sebastian through to take the lead right out of her hands. Seanagh’s heart almost broke when she saw him speed off a few seconds up the road in just a few laps. There was no way she’d win now.

The late safety car did nothing to help Seanagh’s race and she crossed the finish line in second place just a couple of seconds behind her team mate. Sure, she’d just helped Ferrari secure their first 1-2 finish at Monaco in sixteen years but in that moment at least she felt like she’d been punched in the gut at having just lost the most prestigious race on the calendar.

Seanagh somehow found it in her to wave to the crowd on her in lap, and when she pulled to a stop in front of the Royal Box she took a moment to herself before slowly getting out of the car. She kept her helmet on to at least delay the whole word seeing how dejected she felt. Seanagh sighed and walked over towards her parents who were stood behind the barriers along with her mechanics. Neither of them said anything and they pulled her into a joint hug, both of them rubbing her back soothingly. It did help. A little bit.

“Chin up princess” Mark smiled lovingly at his daughter.

“We’re both so proud of you either way” Mary took Seanagh’s hand in hers and gave it a strong squeeze before Seanagh walked past her mechanics who all looked joyful despite acting on the more muted side.

“Piccolina” Seanagh turned at the sound of Emilio’s voice and she lifted up her visor so she could see her number one mechanic properly. “Please, don’t think of today as a loss. None of us do” She nodded and finally trudged up the steps to the podium cool down room where Sebastian and Daniel were already happily chatting away.

A brief moment of silence fell across the room as Seanagh stepped off the scales once she’d been weighed. She slowly took off her helmet, gloves, balaclava and radio in-ears while keeping her eyes fixed on the floor. Seanagh placed her things down on the table before taking a long drink of water from the small plastic bottle in front of her.

“Seb?” Seanagh could almost feel her team mate’s gaze on the back of her head but she couldn’t bare it to look at him so Seanagh just towelled down her face, wiping away the few tears that had leaked out of her eyes. “Mate, you were saying about the start?” Daniel encouraged. Seanagh could feel the Australian looking between her and Sebastian as well.

“Yeah it was fine; I thought Valtteri was going to get me but…”

“You properly launched it off the line though didn’t you?”

“Huh?” Seanagh said shyly and turned towards Daniel as he moved to be stood beside her.

“They showed your start just now, fucking phenomenal mate!” Daniel clapped Seanagh on the shoulder with his usual perennial grin.

“Thanks Dan” Not that her wonderful start was much use now, but a little bit of praise from a rival never went unaccepted. Seanagh took in a deep breath and finally looked at Sebastian; it was easy to tell that he had been grinning before Seanagh had entered the room. He’d just won his first race at Monaco since 2011; he had every right to be happy.

“Well done Sebastian” She held out her hand and Seb looked at it for a moment before shaking it.

“Thanks Seanagh” Daniel gave an overly dramatic sigh of relief causing both Sebastian and Seanagh to look at him strangely.

“Come on, nobody wants another Nico and Lewis” Daniel would have said more but he was announced onto the podium so he bounded out in his usual exuberated manner. Seanagh was called out next and she managed a small smile and a wave to her mechanics as they gave a loud cheer before Sebastian was called out and all of the Ferrari personnel beneath the podium roared in celebration as the victors anthems were played out into the air.

Everyone was quiet until the Italian anthem started; all of the Ferrari team began to smile proudly as they stood side by side with their arms round each other, singing the words to their beloved anthem as loudly as they possibly could in the off chance they were heard all the way back in Maranello.

It was a wonderful sight that for a few moments put Seanagh’s race into perspective. Sebastian’s mechanics had cheered for Seanagh just as much as Sebastian when they both walked out onto the podium. And now they and Seanagh’s mechanics were all mixed together in a large group of red, singing the same song with an equal amount of pride. None of them cared who won so long it was a Ferrari, it was only the fact that they had secured their first 1-2 finish of the season that they were singing louder than Seanagh had ever heard them sing before.

So she applauded Sebastian when he received his trophy and even managed a smile when she got hers before turning to Seb and the pair patted each other on the back as was customary whenever they shared a podium.

And while during the podium interviews, conducted by a slightly nervous looking Nico, Seanagh tried her best to be sporting while playing down the fact her second place still hurt after having the crucial pole position she made sure to mention that seeing her team look so happy and of course her family for the moment at least were making it all feel a little bit better.

 

The race had long since been finished by the time Sebastian was walking back to the hotel. He’d dined with Prince Albert and Princess Charlene at the post-race winners’ dinner (Riccardo had went with him, since while Seb and Seanagh had agreed to go together they both decided after the race that it wouldn’t be right for Seanagh to force herself to smile for any more people). Seb had worn a tie though, not because he wanted to but because Seanagh insisted that he did and Sebastian definitely wasn’t going to argue with her.

Despite Seb’s race engineer offering a lift back to the hotel Seb had wanted to walk, mainly so he could let the aftermath of the race properly sink in. He now had a whole twenty five point lead over Lewis in the drivers’ standings while Ferrari held a similar gap over Mercedes. It was all going so well apart from the fact that Sebastian’s team mate had been in a horrible mood ever since the post-race press conference. She had hidden it so well that even the team didn’t notice, but her family and Sebastian definitely did.

Seb finally arrived back at the hotel and had one foot on the steps leading up to the entrance when the door was pushed open by a woman in a navy dress with dark hair clutching a grey bag who ran down the steps in her silver heels.

“Seanagh?” Sebastian had helped zip up that dress before she went to have dinner with her family in the hotel restaurant. She looked up at Sebastian and pursed her lips together, trying to conceal the sad look in her eyes and failing miserably. They looked at each other in silence for a few moments before Sebastian stepped back down onto the pavement.

“Could we talk?” Sebastian nodded and they decided that rather than having their conversation right outside the hotel, they crossed the road and walked down a set of concrete steps that led to a small stretch of public beach that was completely empty.

Seb waited for Seanagh to take off her shoes before they walked to a spot in the sand far away from the pavement and they sat down next to each other with a reasonable gap between them. Seanagh sighed and pulled her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms round her legs. Seb turned at the sound of jangling metal and he saw Seanagh’s charm bracelet clasped around her wrist, it made him smile as he slightly loosened his tie and sat in the welcome period of silence

 

“I’m not angry with you Sebastian” Seanagh finally spoke after a little while. “And I really don’t want a race result to get between us, not for the sake of the team”

“Me neither”

“I guess I was just… angry at myself because I’d had pole and lost the race. I really didn’t want to be there, but…”Seanagh paused; she could feel a lump in her throat and tears in her eyes. “When the Italian anthem started, I saw everyone put their arms round each other and I heard them sing at the top of their lungs because what we did today just made them feel so happy, and proud” Seanagh coughed out a small sob and Sebastian gently rubbed her shoulder. “I mean you know how it is, when you’re a racing driver and everyone but you is winning you just feel so…”

“Awful?”

“Yeah” Seanagh sighed and looked down at her toes and wriggled them in the sand. “I was just so desperate to win today so I could prove myself. Because my contract is up at the end of the year and I never thought I’d say this but… Ferrari feels like home to me. I never thought it would and honestly the only way I want to leave is when I retire. Being a Ferrari driver means so much to me and I don’t want to throw this away, and I thought that if I won today then I’d get offered a new contract in the summer but…” Seb shook his head and muttered under his breath before moving so he was crouching in front of his team mate. He placed his hands on her arms and wasn’t surprised when she didn’t look at him.

“Who beat Lewis to third place in China four years ago?”

“Huh?” Seanagh sniffled and looked at Sebastian with a bemused expression.

“China 2013, who finished third?” He asked softly.

“Me”

“And who won in Hungary that year in a car that should not have been near the podium”

“I did”

“And do I really need to ask who won in Barcelona last year”

“Me again” Seanagh gave a small smile at the wonderful memory, easily one of the best in her life. “Seb why are you…”

“Because, you are far too good to not win another race. I mean it” Seanagh let the tears in her eyes fall down her cheeks and Seb gently wiped them away. “Right now it won’t feel like it, but the team achieved something amazing today and that was because of you. See, when I got past you, you kept on hunting me down lap after lap trying to catch me in the hope that you could find an opportunity to get past. You didn’t give up! You fought so hard. Because that’s you, you fight for yourself, your friends, your team… you are so much more than finishing in second place today”

The words, spoken so heartfelt and with such meaning, made Seanagh feel so overwhelmed at how kind and understanding Sebastian was being despite being the same person who won all the glory. Seanagh let go of her knees and wrapped her arms around Seb’s neck and hugged him tightly.

“You believe in me and I believe in you, that’s how we- AHH!” Suddenly Seanagh felt as if she was flying into the air. She shut her eyes tightly but felt the fabric of Seb’s suit against her skin and his cologne filling her nose. Seanagh slowly moved her head back to see that Sebastian was now stood upright and held Seanagh just a few inches above the sand. “I think the tide didn’t like us having a moment” Seanagh giggled and kissed Seb’s forehead before he gently put her back down on the sand. She looked down and saw that Seb’s feet and the hems of is trousers were now wet.

“Oh Seb…”She brought a hand to her face and shook her head with a small smile.

“Better my feet than your dress”

“Come on” Seanagh held out her hand and waited a few seconds before Sebastian took hold of it. “You can dry yourself in my room”

Seb smiled and the pair walked back over to the concrete steps after Seanagh collected her bag and shoes, climbing them slowly as they reached the pavement. Seanagh went to put her shoes back on, only for one of them to break as soon as she put her foot back on the ground. Thankfully Sebastian had been close enough to catch her so she didn’t hurt her ankle.

“Well that just about sums up my day. My favourite pair too…” Seanagh sighed as the heel of her shoe was now hanging limp off the sole looking quite pathetic. Seanagh just held her shoes as she looked up and down the road before quickly running across on her tiptoes with Sebastian in tow.

They walked into the hotel together and went over to the lifts. One arrived fairly quickly and Seanagh pressed the button for her floor and the doors closed.

“We’re okay aren’t we?” Seb asked with his hands in his pockets, biting down on his bottom lip.

“Yeah we’re okay, I’ll be fine once I’ve slept it off” Seanagh said with a small smile as the lift doors opened. She walked slowly along the corridor and opened the door to her room; Sebastian took off his wet socks and shoes before following her in and went straight into the bathroom to dry off his feet with a towel before going to leave after only just a few minutes.

“See you at the airport tomorrow”

“By the way Seb”

“Yeah?” Seanagh walked over to where he was standing and she went up on her toes and gave him a small kiss on the cheek.

“I actually am really happy for you”

“Thanks” Seb smiled as he opened the door and stepped out into the corridor. They wished each other goodnight before Seanagh closed the door behind Sebastian as he walked back to his own room. Both of them hoped that as races went, it wasn’t going to get any more awkward between them than that.


	38. Call It What You Want

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The red mist is such a fickle fiend

_Sunday 25 th June – Baku, Azerbaijan_

There were two things that Will was incredibly grateful for; the fact that the race wasn’t due to start until five in the evening meaning he’d had the best Sunday morning lie-in, and that they’d scheduled the race in Baku to be two weeks after Canada rather than back-to-back like last year. Sure becoming a fully-fledged motorsport photographer had its perks in that Will was able to go to every race on the calendar, but the jetlag from back-to-back races was a nightmare.

Instead of driving to the circuit everyone was able to walk since the race organisers had put the paddock just five hundred meters from the main entrance to their hotel. So Will walked side by side with his sister, Richard and Vanessa; all of them wearing sunglasses since the midday sun was beating down on the Azerbaijani capital.

Qualifying hadn’t gone to plan, Mercedes had locked out the front row leaving the Ferraris to scrap over third and fourth (Seanagh had been in the victor on that occasion).

“So Will, where are you parking yourself today?” Richard asked, for some reason everyone seemed to take great interest as to where Will would find himself on race day, maybe it had something to do with them not crashing at that particular spot.

“I was thinking turn sixteen; see all the cars coming down the hill before turning onto the long stretch back to the finish line”

“Sounds good to me” Vanessa hummed and gave a small nod of approval.

The small group arrived at the paddock entrance and went to scan their passes at the turnstiles before a shout from a good ten meters away distracted them. They all turned round and saw Mia jogging towards them alongside Nico, with Mia’s parents trailing behind.

“Oh my gosh, look who turned up to the party!” Seanagh chuckled as Nico greeted her with a smile, friendly hug and a small kiss on the cheek. Nico greeted everyone else in turn, smiling at them and shaking their hand, charming them all in a way only Nico could. As Nico accidentally bumped Will’s camera bag with his hip Will instantly went to check that nothing was broken to the tune of Nico giving a thousand apologies.

“It’s okay mate. Nothing’s broken” Nico gave a huge sigh of relief before slinging his arm round Mia’s shoulder while Seanagh caught up with her friend’s parents.

“How did you get a pass this short notice?” Richard raised his eyebrow at the fact that Nico’s red access pass actually let him into the paddock.

“Williams sorted it all out. I decided to come here on Friday, I only got here sometime last night I am so exhausted!” Nico was wearing dark sunglasses to hide his probably tired looking eyes, but apart from that he looked and sounded to be almost buzzing. “I’ve had two espressos this morning with breakfast just to keep me awake!” He laughed and went back to holding Mia’s hand when she emerged on the other side of the turnstiles.

“We know!” Mia gave her boyfriend an exasperated sigh and a small shake of the head as they started their walk through the paddock once Mia’s parents and Seanagh had made their way through.

“So where are you going to be today Will?” Mia asked, another one wondering where the ‘do not crash’ spot was.

“Turn sixteen” Mia nodded and seemed to make a mental note of it as they reached the Williams hospitality building already. “Good luck by the way, in case I don’t see you before” Will smiled at Mia and she let go of Nico to pull him in for a small hug.

“Thanks, see you at the drivers parade Seanagh!” As Mia and her entourage went into the Williams building Seanagh lead her trio over towards Ferrari and gave a small sigh of relief when she was indoors. Like everyone else she took off her sunglasses and started fiddling with the zip on her team polo shirt.

“Are you okay?” Will asked as he and Seanagh walked over towards her driver room behind Vanessa.

“Yeah” Seanagh nodded and gave her brother a small smile as Vanessa opened the door allowing Seanagh and Will to dump their bags in the corner. “Just thinking too much about the start, that’s all” Vanessa held the door open since Seanagh was due to go straight into the pre-race strategy meeting.

She retrieved her notebooks and pen from her bag before walking over to the doorway where Sebastian had appeared. “Afternoon Seb” Seanagh flashed a bright smile at her team mate which she instantly got in return. Will just rolled his eyes and tried to make his way out of the room only for Seanagh to be stood blocking the doorway.

“Oh where are you today Will?” Sebastian asked with his brow partially furrowed.

“Turn sixteen” Will replied trying not too exasperated. He was beginning to think about stealing a post-it note from somewhere, write turn sixteen on it and sticking it to his forehead so people would stop asking him.

“Great” Seb smiled before looking over at Seanagh again. Will shared a look with Vanessa; she just nodded as if to say ‘yes, they really do look at each other like _that_ all the time’.

“Guys, strategy meeting that you’re about to be late for” Seanagh and Sebastian suddenly stopped talking and quickly headed over to the engineers office. Once they were out of earshot Vanessa gave an exasperated sigh before slowly walking with Will through to the main hospitality area to get them both a drink. “I wish they’d say something instead of having us wonder what’s going on all the time”

“I don’t think anything’s going on” Will pulled out a chair and sat down as he spoke, leaving Vanessa looking dumbstruck.

“Did you not just see them staring lovingly at each other?” Vanessa whispered as she hurriedly took her seat opposite Will.

“Well, she told me first about him the last time. And she hasn’t said anything to me so…” Will shrugged as Vanessa raised her eyebrow and stood up to get three bottles of water as Richard returned from the PR office with the team’s social media phone in his hand. “Stefania’s entrusted you to live-tweet the race has she?”

“Yeah” Richard smiled looking slightly nervous. “I really hope nothing bad happens”

 

“Argh! What the hell was that?!” Seanagh radioed into the team after feeling a very sharp whack on one side of the car before the other side brushed the wall on the exit of turn three. There were cars everywhere but she saw Bottas’ Mercedes slow suddenly only for Seb to shoot past both of them going into turn four.

“Okay Valtteri’s got a puncture, how does the car feel is it okay?”

“It feels fine Dave” Seanagh snapped back, feeling annoyed that the Mercedes had made her lose a position right at the start of the race. “Okay maybe not” Seanagh resisted the urge to swear at the sight of Verstappen easing past her while Felipe Massa thought about making a pass but decided against it as the field went up through the castle section.

The safety car came out on lap twelve to clear away a stricken Toro Rosso which allowed everyone to calm down. Thanks to the melee of the start the pack had been shuffled somewhat, the Force India of Perez was sat in third splitting the two Ferrari’s, both Williams cars were in the top ten with Bottas and Ricciardo scrapping around the midfield after their early stops while an engine failure had put Verstappen out of the race.

The safety car came back out as soon as it came in thanks to some more on-track debris and both Lewis and Sebastian came in for their first stops during the safety car and retained their first and second places. After that everyone just watched and waited for the racing to get back underway.

 

Will bounced up and down on his toes; the dull safety car period meant there were only so many pictures you could take of a procession of F1 cars. At long last the safety car sped past with its lights switched off meaning the race was about to get going again.

So Will stood looking up at turn fifteen with his camera poised in front of his face ready to take pictures as soon as the cars appeared. He heard the dull roar of the slower moving field get closer and suddenly he saw Lewis Hamilton’s Mercedes at the top of the hill.

Will was about to start taking pictures when something strange happened; Sebastian seemed to drive almost straight into the rear end of Hamilton’s car as they both broke for turn fifteen, then all of a sudden the number five Ferrari pulled up alongside the Mercedes, Sebastian waving a hand in frustration, and seemed to swerve right into the silver arrow.

As the field drove through turn sixteen thankfully in one piece Will stopped for a moment to make sure his eyes hadn’t been playing tricks on him and that he had actually seen the most bizarre incident between the two title contenders.

 

“Oh come on!” Seanagh gave a disgruntled sigh as the two Force India’s in front of her collided. She’d been following them closely in the hope of taking their positions at the restart; instead she had no choice but to drive straight over their debris which resulted in a front tyre puncture. When she pulled the car into the pits her mechanics found so much damage to the floor of the Ferrari that they had to retire the car. So they carefully pushed her car back into the garage right as the race was red flagged.

Seanagh got out of her car quickly as she could, and apologised to all of her mechanics for her mistake, they all seemed to accept it fairly quickly with a sad frown and a shrug. As Seanagh walked to the back of the garage to dump her helmet and balaclava Vanessa walked over and joined her, giving her driver a small pat on the back.

“I knew I was following them far too closely” Seanagh sighed as she took off her gloves. “When am I going to speak to the press then?” Vanessa hummed and didn’t say anything, biting down on her bottom lip whilst ringing her hands together. “Ness has something happened?”

“Um…” Before Vanessa could speak Seanagh looked up at the TV screen above her. She watched as it showed a replay from lap nineteen right before the end of the second safety car period. First Lewis slowed for turn fifteen, then Seb went into the back of him, pulled alongside the Mercedes and…

“He drove into him?!” Seanagh gawked and looked to her trainer who looked slightly stunned. Out of nowhere Maurizio came over from the pit wall and shouted at Seanagh’s mechanics in Italian which caused them to spring into life as they busied themselves with getting the Ferrari up on the jacks. It looked as if they were going to try and fix the car during the red flag period in time for the restart, and twenty minutes later the team had somehow managed it and Seanagh was back in the race – albeit a lap down on everyone else.

 

The race re-started again and for just over ten laps everything seemed to be back to normal, overtakes happened, one or two cars had mechanical issues. Compared to the rest of the race none of it was really notable.

That was until Hamilton’s head rest came loose forcing him to pit to get it fixed, right as Sebastian was handed a ten second stop-and-go penalty for dangerous driving.

Both Vanessa and Antti huffed as the stewards decision flashed up on the TV feed. Neither of them could really disagree with it since they both felt that what Seb had done was pretty stupid. At that point just about everyone in the team wanted to be waiting at the airport for their flight home rather than watching the race that in Ferrari’s case was crumbling away by the second. That feeling was only enhanced when Seanagh was forced to retire the car (again) thanks to an oil leak just five laps before the end of the race.

As Seanagh once again dumped her things at the back of the garage she let out a long sigh and ran her hands across her face. Vanessa went over to join her as did Richard this time, who had long since given the live tweeting duties back to Stefania.

“Now we’re off to see the press”

“Alright” Seanagh fixed her cap on her head and her sunglasses on over her eyes as she went to leave the garage, only to stop when she caught a glimpse of the race order on a screen above her. “Wait… is that Mia in second?” The trio of Brits all squinted their eyes as they read the list of names on the screen; Ricciardo, Sanders, Bottas, Vettel, Hamilton, Ocon…

“She is!” Vanessa gave an excited gasp and even smiled. “How?!”

“Must have managed to drive through the chaos” Richard shrugged and gave a small smile too. Richard, Vanessa and Seanagh all moved so they had a good sight of one of the TV screens and watched until the end of the race; Ricciardo won, and sadly Bottas’ Mercedes had managed to out drag Mia’s Williams right as they crossed the line, giving the Finn second place and Mia in third, finally making her first ever F1 podium.

 

The podium had passed in such a blur that Mia almost didn’t realise it was over. She picked up her trophy and went over to the metal railing to pass her bottle of champagne down to her mechanics; thankfully one of them caught it and began to spray its remnants over everyone in sight. Mia giggled at the view, after a career full of midfield scraps she had finally finished on the podium and at long last had a Formula 1 trophy to display back home.

Just before she left she blew a kiss for Nico and her parents which they all beamed at as Mia walked off the podium and into the post-race press conference.

Despite the fact Mia was asked the majority of the questions that did start to get fairly repetitive her bright smile didn’t falter once. Even in the press pen when she was asked about the significance of her result, to be only the second female driver to get a podium finish, and the first to do so with Williams. Loads of people had made comparisons between Mia and Susie saying that Mia was following in Susie’s footsteps when really Mia was making her own.

“Mia!” She turned round at the call of her name, assuming it was a journalist wanting to speak to her right as she wrapped up another interview. But instead it was Seanagh walking towards her best friend with a huge smile on her face. The pair hugged each other tightly and Mia could swear she saw tears in Seanagh’s eyes. “Oh I’m so proud of you!”

“Thanks Seanagh” Mia blushed as she tried to not let the wave of emotions she was feeling get to her now.

“I only saw the tail end of the race but you did a really great job, I’m so glad you finally got a trophy!” Mia smiled as Seanagh hugged her again. “I should let you go, word of advice enjoy all the positive questions while they last, you know what this lot are like” Mia nodded, only two weeks ago in Canada she had been asked about her consistency as a driver after getting only her second points finish of the season in Montreal.

In a strange twist of fate Mia was faced with that same journalist a few minutes later who funnily enough had a rather stunned look all over his face. Mia just gave him a confident smile as she breezed through his questions before moving onto the next in a long line of reporters. She really didn’t care about all the other drama that happened to everyone else in the race, and despite some people wanting to know her opinion on the matter she really didn’t give it a second thought.

 

The hours that had passed between the end of the race and getting back to the hotel felt more like days. As he lay down on the bed Seb screwed his eyes shut, the more he thought about the race and what happened the more confused he got. First, he felt that Lewis had brake tested him going into the corner, or was he just slowing for the corner? Seb wasn’t so sure of that anymore. Second, Seb had felt the hottest of rages come over him. Third, Seb pulled his car alongside Lewis’ and he raised his hand in frustration. And somewhere along the way Seb drove into the side of Lewis’ car.

What an idiot.

In that moment, as soon as his anger went away, Seb had no idea what had just happened. For some reason, the words of his former team mate rang in his head as the safety car had pulled into the pits. _‘Just another one of your angry flashes eh Sebastian?’_ Seb shook his head and stood up; he hated how his hotel room had a view of the circuit. Seb wanted to feel like Mark’s words of the past had rung true, but then again Seb did remember consciously deciding to show Lewis that what he thought he did wasn’t on.

With a quiet curse under his breath, Seb picked up his phone and keycard and left his room without even bothering to draw the curtains. He had wanted to see Seanagh for hours, but she had only just texted him back a few minutes ago. She hadn’t said much to him after the race, because what could she say?

Sebastian was relieved when the lift arrived and that it was completely empty. He pressed the button for Seanagh’s floor and felt the lift do down and the doors opened again. Seb and his team mate had gotten into the habit of exchanging hotel room numbers like they used to, although Seb didn’t want to see Seanagh for _that_ , truth be told he just wanted a hug and for Seanagh to talk about something that would make Seb forget about the race.

He walked out of the lift and turned right which instantly took him onto the hallway that Seanagh’s room was on, and to Seb’s surprise she was standing by her door looking as if she was about to leave. Rather than risk shouting her name all the way down the corridor he jogged towards her and said her name when he was a few feet away.

“Hi” Seb spoke quietly and leaned against the wall, folding his arms across his chest.

“Hey Seb” Seanagh walked the few steps back over towards her room. She scanned her keycard and opened the door wide letting Sebastian in. He gently closed the door behind him and went straight over to the double bed and fell backwards so he was looking up at the ceiling. Seb groaned and ran his hands across his face as Seanagh sighed and walked over towards him.

“Well make yourself at home why don’t you” She jibed as she sat down close to Sebastian and gently started running her fingers through his hair. “I don’t exactly have the time to talk about it now”

“Okay” Sebastian slowly sat up and turned to look at Seanagh again, this time taking in her lavender dress, silver jewellery and styled hair when the penny dropped. He smacked his hand against his forehead and let out another groan. “Of course, Mia’s first podium”

“I’ve been invited along to drinks and-”

“No, go. I wouldn’t want to make you late” If Sebastian was going to get one thing right today it was to make sure that Seanagh wouldn’t have to make up an excuse as to why she missed the start of her best friend’s celebrations. Seanagh smiled warmly at Seb as she leaned down and gave him a small kiss on the forehead before pulling a face and wiping at a small spot with her thumb.

“You can stay here if you want, spare keycard is on the bedside table if you want to go back to your room and get anything”

“Thanks” Seb just gave a small smile as Seanagh said goodbye and rushed out the door. When she was gone Sebastian sighed and fell backwards again onto the soft mattress. He might have been alone again, but at least this time he didn’t have a view of the circuit mocking him every second.

 

After just over three hours Seanagh finally found herself walking back into the hotel, while Mia and Nico were moving onto a club to continue their celebrations. Credit where credit was due they had picked a nice bar to have drinks in, it hadn’t been too loud and no one had came up to ask for a picture while they’d been there, it was a very welcome piece of normality.

Seanagh sighed with relief when she walked out of the lift and onto her floor. She’d already taken off her heels as they’d made her feet feel far too sore on the walk from where the taxi had dropped Seanagh off to the hotel entrance. She pulled her keycard out of her clutch bag and walked into her room with a smile; Sebastian was still there and was sat cross legged on the bed watching something on his laptop, which he must have retrieved from his room along with his rucksack that had been put by the chair in the corner of the room.

“Hey” Seanagh smiled at her team mate and dropped her shoes by her suitcase before sitting on the edge of the bed and sliding herself over towards Seb, leaving her bag on the bedside table.

“Have a nice time?” Seb asked as he took out his earphones.

“Yeah” Seanagh sighed, wondering how to break her newest bit of news. “Looks like I’m going to another wedding” Seb raised his eyebrows looking stunned. “Nico proposed right after the race, Mia said yes obviously”

“Oh wow, that’s…” The look of surprise didn’t leave Seb’s face, apparently the news had left him speechless.

“They’ll have been together three years in December, but they think they’re each other’s soulmates so…” Seanagh trailed off and shrugged. “Mia asked me to be maid of honour though”

“I hope for the sake of your friendship you said yes”

“Of course I did” Seanagh smiled as she started fiddling with the back of her dress.

“Do you need me to get the zip?” Seanagh had tried to reach it herself but failed miserably, so gladly accepted Seb’s offer. She turned round and Seb carefully pulled the zip of her dress down by a couple of inches until Seanagh could reach it herself.

Seanagh got changed in the bathroom, and emerged in jeans, a plain t-shirt and a large hoodie that she’d found when clearing out her wardrobe. She put her dress and shoes back in her suitcase and went back to the bathroom to take her makeup off before finding a spot next to Seb on the bed.

“So” Seanagh pursed her lips together not knowing how to start this particular conversation. “Do you want to talk about the race?” Seb’s shoulders fell as she sighed and started chewing on his thumbnail. She definitely hadn’t approved of what Seb had done to Lewis during the race, and she felt the need to make sure that he knew that. Only just about everyone on their planet had voiced their opinion on Sebastian’s driving, most of it very unsavoury, so she at least wanted to make her point in the politest way possible.

“I um…” Seb shook his head and pushed his laptop away. “Honestly I think I’m going to regret what I did for a long time”

“Well at least you know what you did was wrong” Seanagh was thanking the racing gods that her team mate had found some sense. “What were you thinking Seb?” She asked softly, a part of her just had to know so someone could try to prevent it from happening ever again.

“That’s the thing, I’m pretty sure I wasn’t” Seb shrugged. “I just let him get to me and for a second I just lost it”

“You’re better than falling to mind games Seb” He just hummed and ran a hand across his jaw.

“I’ve never felt this bad after a race before” Seb gave a long and very sad sounding sigh and hunched his shoulders. Seanagh gently placed her hand on the top of his back and rubbed her hand back and forth in a soothing motion. If he was feeling an awful lot of remorse over what he had done then at least Seanagh was going to try and help him deal with it rather than let him start wallowing as she knew he might. “What time is our flight again?”

“Ten to five tomorrow morning, and it’s… just gone quarter past eleven”

“And we need to be out of here by midnight” Seb huffed and got out of bed and went to collect his things. “I need to finish packing”

“Need a hand?” Seb cast an eye over Seanagh’s closed suitcase and frowned, realising that Seanagh had already tidied her room and pack away all her things. “Come on then schatzi” Seanagh hauled herself out of bed and took her keycard out of her clutch bag. She briefly took Seb’s hand before letting it go once they were in the corridor walking towards the lifts. “You will feel so much better once you’ve slept it off” It had worked in Seanagh’s case at least, losing out in Monaco, her brake issues in Canada – a good night’s sleep seemed to have made those races feel far less painful.

 

“By the way” Seb spoke suddenly once he’d zipped up his now packed suitcase. Seanagh hummed as she sat down on Sebastian’s bed, and watched as he nervously scratched at his wrist. “I accidently told Britta and Antti that you got me this” He pointed to his watch, that Seb now rarely took off, and frowned. Seanagh just shrugged and gave her team mate a small smile.

“That’s fine Seb, honestly”

“It’s not!” Seb exclaimed and sat next to Seanagh, he fan his fingers across the leather watch strap and just stared at his shoes. “Because now they think we’ve gotten back together”

“Oh”

“Not that it would be a bad thing but… Are we though?” Seb asked suddenly, almost to himself but he looked up at Seanagh with an inquisitive gaze.

“Um…” Seanagh paused suddenly feeling very uneasy. “I mean I thought we were still, you know…”

“Taking things slowly?”

“Yes”

“Right” Seb nodded and stood up to retrieve his things, it was a few minutes to midnight and they were supposed to be in reception checking out of their rooms already.

So as they got in the lift back down to Seanagh’s floor she couldn’t help but look at Sebastian and wonder what they really were to each other.


	39. Live Wire

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Good things come to those who are tired of waiting

_Sunday 9 th July – Red Bull Ring, Austria_

Seanagh followed Sebastian’s car for lap, after lap, after lap. A part of her was fine with it; he was ahead in the championship after all. But the frustration that she _still_ hadn’t won a race was definitely getting to her. And she knew that she was running just as fast as Seb, if not slightly faster, and Valtteri was only just a second ahead of Sebastian.

She was tired of finishing behind everyone else, tired of not winning, tired of Marchionne hinting that Seanagh’s wasn’t pulling her weight, tired of the press constantly asking when she’d win a race again.

She’d had enough and right now she really wanted to show them all.

“Dave” Even the strategy was playing into Seanagh’s hands. She’d been one of the last cars to stop meaning her tyres were fresher than anyone else’s. “Is this all that Seb’s got?” She asked to her engineer over the radio. She felt torn, she knew Seb was in the championship fight and therefore had to get as many points as he could, but the other half of her knew that Seanagh had to win a race this year. And there was a chance right in front of her.

 

On the pit wall Dave huffed and Maurizio turned to look at the race engineer with a raised eyebrow. He ran a hand over his face and glanced at the team principle before replying to his driver.

“As far as I’m aware”

“Right” Dave looked down at the timing screens. Bottas was still leading, Seb was six tenths behind him in second and Seanagh was four tenths behind Sebastian in third. Dave knew what the logical thing was to do, let Seanagh past to hopefully battle with the Mercedes and hope that Seb could pick up the scraps and maybe take second place. The only problem was that Dave assumed Maurizio didn’t want to briefly put Seb down into third place when he was the championship leader and that doing so could possibly put him at risk to the Red Bull of Ricciardo who was a further few seconds back.

“Maurizio…” Dave spoke hesitantly to the older Italian who, as always during a race, was scowling at everything he looked at. “Seanagh’s got the freshest tyres; she did some great fuel saving in her second stint. I know Sebastian’s supposed to be our priority but I really think she can do it”

“Do what?” Maurizio asked quietly.

“Catch Bottas, battle with him long enough to allow Seb to catch up and maybe get him too. We could get a 1-2 out of this” Riccardo spoke up much to Dave’s relief. The two race engineers looked at each other and nodded, thankful that they both were on the same page that a potential 1-2 was far better than a standard double podium.

Maurizio hummed and looked up at the timing screens as the cars came round for another lap, it was getting to the point where there wasn’t that many laps left. And everyone knew how good Seanagh was in a last lap chase.

“Okay” With a smile Dave sent a message to Seanagh when she was on the straight towards turn two while Riccardo informed his own driver of the team’s new plan.

 

Seanagh had already picked out her overtaking spot when Dave radioed her giving her the all clear. As she followed Seb around the final corner she took in a deep breath, and took the slow in, fast out approach to the corner and pulled alongside her team mate’s Ferrari on the start-finish straight. She gave him far much more space than what she’d give anyone else, because no way was she going to risk the pair of them colliding. Seanagh was on the outside for turn one but broke later than Sebastian and eased past him right on the apex to take second place. The silver Mercedes was already in sight with less than ten laps left of the race to go.

“Okay Seanagh, we’ve ran the numbers. You’ve been marginally faster than Bottas over the past few laps. You’ve got fuel if you need it, let’s go get him” Seanagh briefly smiled inside her helmet as she skimmed her car across the kerb at turn six like she had done in qualifying and set about hunting Bottas’ Mercedes down.

 

_“Three laps left of the race now, and it’s Bottas being put under serious pressure from the Ferraris. Palmer marginally ahead of Vettel, all three cars are running nose to tail almost coming out of turn two”_

_“It’s almost like last year’s Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, with the cars running so close together… do you think we could be on for another grandstand finish today?”_

_“Absolutely”_

Seanagh took in a deep breath as she accelerated out of turn five, she was so unbearingly close to Valtteri but the laps were ticking away and her chances were becoming fewer by the second. She knew that she’d have to make the pass during a corner, the last one seemed promising but given the longer than usual run to the finish line it was risky. It was hard to admit but the Mercedes power unit was still better than the Ferrari, but only slightly.

She pulled her focus back again to the silver car in front, she followed him closely but not too closely. It was like Barcelona again, just sit there and hope that her presence would force an error. The downside was that Valtteri had much more experience than Max did, so maybe for once her usual tactic wouldn’t work.

Instead she followed quietly, knowing that Sebastian behind her would be more than happy to try a double overtake if it meant taking the win for himself. So during the penultimate lap Seanagh waited and watched the way the Mercedes would twitch coming out of certain corners, namely turn six. So she nestled her shoulders down and eased back just a tad to make sure that she’d have enough grip left in her tyres to actually pull off a pass.

 

Meanwhile in the Ferrari garage Mark and Norbert were almost unable to breathe as the race folded out on the screens in front of them. As the last lap started it was Bottas, followed closely by Seanagh and even closer by Sebastian. Everyone thought Seanagh would try a move going down the straight into turn two but she didn’t. Both Ferraris just lay in wait for a moment that everyone started to wonder would happen at all.

Seanagh was right on Valtteri’s tail as she eased the car out of turn three and glided around turn four. Her moment was coming, and soon enough she saw Valtteri’s car give the smallest of slides as he went round turn five. So she pressed her foot down on the accelerator and pulled her car up alongside the Mercedes. The distance between turns six and seven was short, so neither driver had long to decide who was going to brake first.

It was the number sixteen Ferrari who braked ever so slightly later, but it seemed the shock of Seanagh going around the inside of turn seven was enough to startle Valtteri enough for Sebastian to close the gap even further. And as Seanagh sped through the final corner and took the chequered flag, it was a drag race to the line between Sebastian and Valtteri, which the German won by a front wing endplate.

The Ferrari garage erupted into a wall of noise as both Mark and Norbert found themselves reduced to tears, although Norbert was able to hide it better. Vanessa and Richard meanwhile were hugging each other and almost screaming in joy as they jumped up and down looking as if Seanagh had just won the world championship instead of the Austrian Grand Prix.

Everyone on the pit wall breathed a sigh of relief and patted each other on the back as Dave went to congratulate his driver.

“Well done Seanagh that was one heck of a finish. The Austrian Grand Prix is yours, amazing job!”

“Congratulations piccolina” Maurizio finally found himself smiling as he sent his own message. “Another flag for Maranello, brilliant move at the end there well done”

“Yes guys! Ah… thank you so much for everything this weekend. And for believing in me just then. Grazie tutti, grazie ragazzi. Fino alla fine Forza Ferrari” Maurizio huffed a small laugh as he placed his headset down on the pit wall and looked out at the mass of excited red-clad mechanics and engineers that were running towards parc ferme like their lives depended on it.

“I cannot believe she just did that!” Jock Clear exclaimed as he jumped down off the pit wall and beamed at Dave who had been given the privilege of being the constructors representative on the podium. “Right at the end huh? Brilliant!” Maurizio stuffed his hands in his pockets, smiling at Seanagh’s father as he jogged past him. He was beginning to wonder that his driver was starting to take the meaning of that phrase a little bit too literally.

 

Seanagh screamed with joy as she climbed on top of her car and proudly patted the Ferrari logo on her chest before jumping down onto the ground and into her mechanics arms. Emilio, Lucio and Stefano all somehow managed to pick Seanagh up and almost lift her up into the air. It was obvious by the looks on all of their faces just how delighted they were at Seanagh finally winning a race; they had hidden their disappointment about Monaco so incredibly well. Richard and Vanessa had their arms round each other as they stood next to Mark; all three of them were in various states of crying. Mark more than most.

He took one look at his daughter before pulling her into his arms and hugging her tightly. Mark kissed the top of Seanagh’s helmet and squeezed her shoulders beaming at her with so much pride.

“Well done love” Mark coughed away a sob as he grinned.

A heavy clap on the shoulder caused Seanagh to look away and she saw Seb with his hands on her shoulders. He pulled her into a strong hug and they both jumped up and down excitedly. They hadn’t been on the podium together since Monaco.

Again they had to be dragged away from their team far too quickly and they went up the stairs towards the podium cool down room together, taking off their helmets, balaclavas and other things as they went.

“Are we okay?” Seanagh quietly asked Seb as they reached the top of the stairs; thankfully they were being drowned out by the sound of applauding grid girls so the camera that was trained on them wouldn’t pick up their conversation.

“Yeah we’re okay” Seb smiled as he let Seanagh walk in and get weighed first. She jumped off the scales and put her helmet and HANS device down on the small white table having already stuffed her balaclava, gloves and in ears away in her helmet.

Seanagh reached out to shake Valtteri’s hand before picking up one of the small bottles of cold water and drinking half of it in one go. She couldn’t tell if the Mercedes driver was pissed about finishing in third after starting on pole, or was just being Finnish about the whole thing. “Great start by the way” Seanagh had been on the second row of the grid and saw Valtteri’s almost super-human reaction to the starting lights.

“Totally jumped it!” Seb chimed in after being weighed and getting his own drink. “No one reacts that fast” Valtteri just shrugged with a smile and now looked somewhat pleased with himself. “You gave me such a fright going into turn one” Sebastian patted Seanagh on the arm.

“I didn’t give you any damage did I?”

“No, I nearly jumped out my skin when you pulled alongside me though. You came out of the last corner so quickly!” Seanagh chuckled and shrugged as Dave finally arrived with a beaming grin on his face.

“Finally you got one!” He exclaimed as he greeted his driver with a friendly pat on the shoulder. “You and your last corner passes” Dave shook his head looking amazed while Seanagh and Seb fixed their hair and put on their Pirelli podium caps.

“You’ll be famous for those one day you know” Seb winked as Valtteri was announced out onto the podium, the TV cameras having long since left.

Both Sebastian and Seanagh walked out onto the podium to a roar of cheers from the whole team that had gathered themselves underneath the podium, something that was proving to be quite the occurrence in 2017.

Seanagh looked out at the fans who had made their way onto the circuit and saw Ferrari flags and Union Jacks being proudly wafted in the summer breeze as the National anthems started. As always Seanagh found herself singing along to the British anthem with a smile on her face and happy tears in her eyes. She looked down into parc ferme and saw Will running down the pit lane and squeeze his way through Seanagh’s mechanics to stand next to his Dad, before looking up at the podium with a proud smile and taking a few snaps.

When the Italian anthem started the whole Ferrari team linked arms and sang along at the top of their lungs. It was easily one of the best sights and sounds that always made Seanagh’s skin tingle with goose bumps. She punched the air on the final note and briefly clapped before fixing her winners cap back on her head. Seanagh turned to look at Sebastian and they smiled brightly at each other before Seanagh was distracted by her winner’s trophy.

She lofted it high into the air for all of her mechanics to see before putting it down again to applaud Dave and Seb when they received their own trophies. When Sebastian put his own trophy by his feet he placed a hand on Seanagh’s arm and said congratulations again while beaming a stunning smile at her. Thankfully they both remembered to applaud Valtteri and all three of them took a long swig of champagne before spraying it all over each other, the two Ferrari drivers enjoying it far more than what Valtteri was.

 

Almost the whole team had gone out to celebrate Ferrari’s second 1-2 finish of the season, and considering that the race had unfolded in more harmonious circumstances compared with Monaco both sides of the garage were more than happy to enjoy the good result together.

One of the local bars not too far from the team’s hotel  had offered their entire premises to Ferrari that night (for a small fee of course), and it turned out to be the same bar that they’d celebrated in twelve months ago. Again, all of Seb’s entourage where in much better spirits considering his tyres had managed to last the whole race this time.

The team had happily snapped up the offer since alongside their fantastic race result, Mark’s birthday was also in a few days and since the entire paddock were to be in London that day for some live event Maurizio had decided to do something for him too.

Out of the blue Mark had been presented with a large chocolate cake, and even had happy birthday sang to him by the whole team. Sadly everyone was a bit confused as to what language they should sing so it was a mixture of Italian, English and German all sung to the same tune.

Seanagh and Will sat with their arms around their Dad as Richard took a couple of pictures before Norbert made his way over giving Mark the happiest of early birthday wishes. Seb appeared after a couple of minutes and bought Mark a pint of beer as a gesture of goodwill, which was very happily accepted.

“It’s a shame Seanagh and Will have to miss most of your birthday Mr Palmer”

“Oh it is how it is, besides I did get the best early present today so I think I’ll survive” Mark smiled as he gave Seanagh’s shoulders a gentle squeeze.

“Dad!” Will shouted as he made his way through the crowd. “They found the pool cues”

“Brilliant”

“I’ll just get myself some water Dad I’ll be right over” Seanagh smiled as Mark, Will and Norbert left and headed up a set of wooden stairs where most of the bar games were kept. “Your Dad challenged mine to a game of Pool”

“Oh” Seb nodded looking slightly perplexed. “But my Dad doesn’t know how to play Pool”

“Don’t worry neither does mine” They both giggled which quickly faded into silence while everyone else continued to chat and make noise around them. “Outside?”

“Yeah good idea” Sebastian took one of Seanagh’s hands as she led him through the crowd and outside onto the terrace. The evening air was mostly cool with a slightly warm breeze wafting through now and then, considering there were no clouds in the sky allowing the stars to be visible it could almost be called a perfect evening.

“I hope I didn’t cross a line today” Seanagh spoke softly looking at Sebastian who was leaning against the metal railing a couple of feet away from her. “With you leading the championship and all” Seb thought about it for a moment before shaking his head.

“No you didn’t, speaking as a racing driver; you had fresher tyres, more fuel to burn at the end, you saw an opportunity, you took it and you won” Seb opened out his hands and gave a small shrug. “Don’t worry about it, I started second and finished second and gained point on Lewis. So it’s fine”

“Okay” Seanagh sighed with relief and smiled when Seb moved so he was close by her side.

“I’d only be mad at you for winning if you did something wrong” Seb gently rubbed her shoulder and slowly slid his hands round her waist, Seanagh smiled as she moved her hands to up his shoulders. “Besides after Monaco I think you deserved it” Seanagh said nothing and let out a small sigh “Did you get everything sorted for Wednesday?”

“Yes, booked the best table at Dad’s favourite pub back in Northampton for an early lunch before getting the train back to London for the live event thing”

“You’re always so good with people’s birthdays”

“I just like making the people I love happy” Seanagh’s reply caused Seb to blush as she ran her fingers through his hair. On Monday Seanagh had arrived at Sebastian’s place as a small birthday surprise, his parents had invited her and there was no way she was going to say no and miss out on Seb’s birthday when he had been there for hers. She’d gotten him something of course – a personalised Frankfurt shirt with his own name and number on the back, there had been another thing but Seanagh had decided against it for the time being. “I loved having you up on the podium with me”

“Me too” Seb smiled sweetly as he brushed his thumbs back and forth across Seanagh’s top.

“I love you Seb” The words flew out her mouth without thinking but she didn’t mind.

“I love you too Seanagh” They hadn’t said it to each other for a while, not since before the race in Monaco. The pair leaned into each other and kissed, not a quick peck but a proper deep kiss that eventually left them almost gasping for air. They hadn’t done that since Monaco either.

When they broke apart they kept their faces close and softly brushed noses before Seanagh went to kiss Seb again, this time much more gently. She knotted her fingers in his hair, only to suddenly lean back when Seb hissed loudly.

“Schatzi what is it?”

“My hair is stuck in your bracelet” Seb winced as Seanagh leaned to the side and saw a small tuft of Sebastian’s hair caught in one of the charm links. Seanagh bit down on her lip not knowing how to fix the problem with one hand.

“Ah there you ar- oh” Seanagh looked over her shoulder at the sound of the terrace door opening and saw Antti looking between the two drivers with a bemused look on his face. “Everything alright?” He asked when he saw the slight look of pain on Seb’s face.

“My bracelet’s stuck in his hair” Seanagh said quietly as her cheeks began to flush red and she looked down at her beige heels. She heard Antti sigh before walking over to the pair and looked up when he started to carefully pull Seanagh’s charm bracelet and Seb’s hair apart.

“You were kissing again weren’t you?” Seanagh and Sebastian shyly looked at each other but said nothing as both of their faces were now as red as their Ferraris. Antti scoffed when he managed to free Seanagh’s bracelet. “Not romantically involved my ass” The Finn left as Sebastian took half a step back and gently rubbed the spot on his scalp that had been sharply tugged at.

“Sorry” Seanagh sheepishly turned and went to go back inside when Sebastian asked her to wait, she turned back to look at him so she could hear what he had to say.

“Please don’t think that you beating me is crossing a line because it isn’t, I know most people can’t stand the sight of their team mate beating them but… some days you’ll just be quicker than me and that’s okay”

“That’s awfully noble of you Seb” Seanagh looked at her team mate in amazement. The Seb she knew in the past would never have said such a thing to a team mate or anyone else for that matter.

“I like to think I’ve changed from Malaysia a few years ago” When Seanagh really thought about it the Sebastian that was stood in front of her know was miles apart from the Sebastian she had seen in passing after _that_ Malaysian Grand Prix. He seemed to be more understanding, more willing to see the wider picture of the team not really caring too much which one of their drivers won a race.

“Yeah” Seanagh gave a small smile at that thought “Maybe you have”


	40. Bump In The Road

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Difficult conversations, split fortunes, and burst tyres

_Wednesday 12 th July – London_

The little white envelope that Seanagh had slid across the breakfast bar only had one thing in it Sebastian discovered. He put his hand inside and flinched at the feeling of cool metal against his fingertips and raised his eyebrows when he felt a small metal ring. He curled his finger around it and pulled it out of the envelope and nearly dropped it in shock when he finally saw what it was.

Attached to the ring were two metal keys, one large and gold, the other silver and a little bit smaller.

“Oh” He recognised the keys instantly; he had carried them around in his pocket for six months of his life at one point. “The spare keys to your flat” Seanagh scratched the back of her neck and sighed.

“Don’t ask me why… I just want you to have them. But if you think it’s too much then I’ll take them back”

“Oh darling” Seb rested his free hand on top of Seanagh’s and wrapped his fingers around the keys.

They were supposed to be driving up to their hotel that night (separately of course) in the hope of avoiding the worst of the London traffic. Seanagh’s family had already arrived back at their hotel in Northampton after leaving the F1 Live event. It had gone well; Seb had been pleasantly surprised by the number of Brits that had cheered for him considering his tense title fight with Lewis.

“Are you sure that you want me to have these?” Seb asked, bringing his attention back to the keys in his hand.

“Positive” Seanagh nodded with a small smile.

“It’s just that… well usually this is what couples do” Sebastian hesitantly spoke as he put the keys down on the table. “Seanagh…” He frowned when Seanagh got up from the breakfast bar and went into the living room and sat down on the end of the sofa. Seb followed her through and sat on the other end, making sure Seanagh had plenty of space. “Darling what are you so afraid of?”

 

Seanagh scoffed, it was a perfectly valid question. What was she so afraid of about giving her and Seb a second go? Every time she thought about it she didn’t know what was holding her back.

“Telling the team maybe? I don’t know…” It’s wasn’t the real reason, but it was a reason that for the sake of the conversation would do for now. “I mean we wouldn’t have to tell everyone, just some of them you know? It would be the decent thing to do”

Deep down Seanagh was scared of being judged by her mechanics, even though they didn’t seem like the kind of people who would jump to sudden conclusions about where Seanagh’s priorities lay. “And what if… what if something bad happens during a race and we crash each other out and it ends up pushing us apart?”

“That won’t happen” Sebastian shook his head defiantly and bit down on his lower lip. Seanagh knew that was a promise neither of them could keep, but she didn’t say anything about it.

“What if the reason why we worked the last time was because we were at different teams and had that kind of professional boundary? But because we’re team mates now I need to know that we can cope… that _I_ can cope with us being in a relationship while being at the same team” Seanagh sighed as she ran her hands across her face, keeping her eyes set direct in front of her. She heard Sebastian stand up and take two small steps and sit down next to her. “I’m just scared of taking that step Seb; I don’t want either of us to end up getting hurt again”

“Hey, I trust you okay. And… I know that I don’t want to make the same mistake twice” Seanagh sighed and gave a small smile as Seb slowly began to rub Seanagh’s back. “But if you want to wait, then we’ll wait” Seanagh turned her head to look at Sebastian, who smiled at her with a small nod.

“Thank you Seb”

“You’re easily worth waiting for” Seb beamed a bright cheesy grin to diffuse any lingering tension. Seanagh giggled and nestled her head into his shoulder.

“I hope you know that was straight out of some 90s rom-com” Seanagh looked up at Sebastian with a smile and saw him grin as he kissed the tip of her nose. “And before I forget, thank you for the flowers” When Sebastian had arrived at Seanagh’s flat on Tuesday afternoon he had his suitcase in one hand and a bouquet of roses in the other, with a handwritten message on the small white card congratulating Seanagh on her race win.

“You’ve thanked me ten times already”

“Just in case I hadn’t got the message across” Seanagh giggled after pecking Seb on the cheek before standing up from the sofa. “About the flowers though Seb” Seanagh spoke after admiring the bouquet for the fifth time that day. “Why five white ones?” She knew there must have been a reason behind it; Sebastian had a reason behind 99% of the things he did. Seb just chuckled to himself and went into the kitchen to make them both a cup of tea.

“Do some maths and you’ll figure it out”

“Maths?” Seanagh spoke aloud under her breath as she counted to roses in the bouquet, twenty one in total with five white and the rest of them red. She thought about it for a few minutes before she eventually figured it out and ran into the kitchen behind her team mate. “Oh my god you soppy little schnitzel!”

_Thursday 13 th July – Silverstone Circuit_

“I know she won in Austria, but she’d be so much better off at Mercedes. It was such a shame she had to go to Italy”

The words that Seanagh had overheard one fan saying to the other as they left the drivers signing had hurt like nothing else. Niki Lauda had been speaking to the press again saying how Ferrari had only really let Seanagh win in Austria to make up for Monaco. Seanagh thought, at least she hoped, that wasn’t the case and that she had in fact won the race on merit. Because she’d never forgive Maurizio or anyone else for letting her win just because the team had felt sorry for her, that wasn’t how Seanagh ever wanted to do things.

As soon as she’d returned from the driver’s signing Seanagh had vented all of these concerns, Maurizio brushed them off as mere tactics done by Niki to try and tempt Seanagh over to Mercedes. Something Seanagh assured would never happen so long as she was wanted at Ferrari. With Maurizio’s reassurances that Ferrari would never give Seanagh a race win out of pity she left her boss’ office and went downstairs to get a welcome cup of tea with her parents. With it being her home race the whole family were in attendance once more.

“Morning Palmer” Seanagh turned round at the sound of an Australian accent speak to her as she headed towards the drinks bar.

“Oh, good afternoon Mark” The former Red Bull driver turned pundit was stood next to Sebastian; they looked to be in the middle of a conversation.

“Don’t worry I’m just here on Channel 4 business” Seanagh nodded, she remembered Seb mentioning something about being interviewed by Mark for a TV feature, judging by the camera crew logging their equipment downstairs and through the mass of Ferrari personnel it had probably just finished. “Congratulations for Austria by the way”

“Thank you” Seanagh smiled brightly. “I’ll leave you guys to catch up, nice to see you anyway” With a polite smile Seanagh left and went over to the drinks bar where she ran into Britta and ended up talking to her while she waited for her cup of tea.

 

“You always did have a thing for her didn’t you?” Mark leaned down and smirked as he spoke quietly, looking in Seanagh’s direction.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about” Seb gave a blasé shrug as he stuffed his hands in his pockets. Britta and Seanagh both laughed over something as they made their way through the tables and sat down with Seanagh’s Mum and Dad since Will was out taking pictures of the track.

“You don’t think I noticed you swooning over her at just about every single drivers parade four years ago?” Mark scoffed. Seb’s confident smile faltered slightly, he had hoped that his former team mate had been far too busy soaking up the last races of his F1 career to notice Seb speaking to Seanagh on the drivers parade, let alone flirting with her. “Yeah it’s a very good thing I was the only one in the hotel corridor at Monaco the year after. Tell you the truth I nearly fainted when I saw the pair of you kissing each other like that”

Mark had always been very blunt and to the point, Seb had never expected him to be any other way. He knew exactly what Mark was referring to of course, Seanagh and Sebastian had a complete lapse in concentration after the 2014 race in Monaco – they’d both had serious reliability problems that put Seb out the race and Seanagh in the tail end of the points. So when they went back to the hotel and met outside Seanagh’s room they kissed at the first sight of each other. The corridor had been quiet so Seb hadn’t even bothered to check for stragglers. Apart from that moment him and Seanagh had always been so careful.

Sebastian had felt the colour almost drain from his face and winced when Mark clapped Seb on the shoulder and pretended to chuckle at something he’d said. The Australian was trying to make their conversation look normal when it had become anything but.

“Please tell me you’ve kept it a secret” Seb spoke shakily, using Mark’s hand as support to stop him from fainting.

“I have don’t worry, wouldn’t be fair on you both for me to blab now would it?” Seb gawked at Mark; they had put their past behind them and were now on very good terms with each other, but back then all the wounds from their time together as team mates was still very much healing. “Your privacy has always been important to you Seb; I certainly wouldn’t want to breech that”

Seb ran a hand across his face and breathed a massive sigh of relief; he took a couple of deep breaths and forced himself to stand up properly. Thankfully his legs had managed to find their feet.

“Mark please, you can’t tell anyone”

“I won’t. Must be strange though, working with your girlfriend” Mark hummed, sounding as if the tone of conversation had gone back to normal.

“Ex-girlfriend” Seb coughed as he folded his arms across his chest and looked down at the floor, if he’d figured out that they had been seeing each other, he might as well know the whole story.

“Oh” Mark sounded very surprised and raised his eyebrows before one of the Channel 4 producers walked over after finishing their conversation with Stefania.

“We’re done here Mark; feel free to leave whenever you’re ready”

“Righto!” Mark smiled at the producer and waited until she was out of earshot. “Nice catching up with you Seb”

“Yeah, yeah. You too”

“And uh… I won’t tell a soul”

“See you Mark” Seb and Mark smiled at each other as the Australian left the Ferrari motorhome. Seb couldn’t help but breathe a small sigh of relief once he’d gone and run a hand along his jaw, scratching at his stubble as he saw Britta leave Seanagh’s table.

“I’m glad that went well” Britta smiled as she looked at her watch, checking to see how long Seb had until his next interview. “Were you alright before I turned round and you looked like a deer in the headlights” Britta asked with a friendly laugh. Seb hummed and tapped his feet against the floor.

“He knows” Seb said quietly, darting his eyes to Seanagh before looking back at his press officer. “He said he’d keep quiet about it”

“Well let’s just hope that’s the case, we best get going you’re due in the press pen” Britta patted Seb on the shoulder with a reassuring smile as she led him outside towards the waiting pack of journalists. Lee greeted Seb with a warm smile as always and joked that she wouldn’t drop any bombshell questions. Seb just chuckled in response as he saw Seanagh walk into the press pen with Richard out of the corner of his eye.

He really hoped there wouldn’t be any more bombshell moments over the rest of the weekend. Of any kind.

 

_Sunday 16 th July_

Seanagh slumped down onto the nearest seat in the podium cool down room. She had finished on the podium at her home race for the second year in a row, she should be overjoyed with emotion, but instead she was relieved at only just making it.

A nightmare in the form of punctures on both cars hit Ferrari right in the closing laps of the race. Seanagh had gotten off lucky since her front left had given way near the start of the third sector so she didn’t lose much time and was only dropped down to third.

But Sebastian. The exact same tyre on his car had went as he came into Luffield – much to the delight of a chunk of the crowd no less – it had dropped him from fourth all the way down to seventh, reducing his championship lead to just a single point.

After Seanagh took a long drink of water she buried her face in her hands. She thought that the team had sorted out all their strategy woes from last year, given how much pace the Mercedes seemed to have had all weekend it wasn’t like either Ferrari was going to contend for the win so they should have played it safe with the strategy – but they didn’t.

Seanagh tried her best to put on a brave pace for the team out on the podium, and ran forward with her trophy lofted high in the air for them to see. But everyone, especially Jenson who had been roped into conducting the podium interviews noticed how terrible Seanagh felt.

“I’m sorry buddy” He patted Seanagh on the shoulder after congratulating Lewis before he darted off to see the fans again. Seanagh just sighed and shrugged, going straight home to bed seemed to be a far better option then being dragged around to see the press when Richard arrived. He pulled Seanagh into a tight hug while Vanessa didn’t say anything as she handed her driver her drinks bottle. “Hey, you’ve got Hungary in a couple of weeks” Jenson smiled down at his friend trying to find some positive in the very down beat room.

“It’s a clean start I suppose, see you later Jense” Seanagh tried her best to smile as she walked down the stairs behind Valtteri.

Everyone was forced to wait in the press conference room while Lewis was very much intending on spending as much time with the fans as possible, while Seanagh and Valtteri it seemed both wanted the whole thing to be over.

“Sorry about the tyres” The Finn said after a few minutes of awkward silence. Seanagh just shrugged again and rubbed her eyes. What she’d give to not be in a crowded room of journalists.

 

The sun was only just starting to think about setting when Sebastian found himself in North London. While Britta and Antti had flown back to Switzerland he hadn’t. Since Sebastian had in fact ended up keeping the spare keys to Seanagh’s place after all, he’d asked Seanagh if he could stay the night at hers. She’d said yes almost instantly.

Seb sighed as he unlocked the door to Seanagh’s flat and went to walk straight in when he smacked his face against the door. He cursed loudly in German and saw that someone had bolted the chain across door as he rubbed his nose.

“What the… oh. Hello Sebastian. One second” Seanagh’s Dad peered through the gap in the door and slid off the bolt before opening the door wide. Mark glanced down at the keys in Sebastian hands and gave a surprised hum before stepping aside to allow Sebastian to walk in. “Sorry about that, Seanagh didn’t say you were coming”

“It’s alright” Sebastian shuffled into Seanagh’s flat wheeling his suitcase behind him. Mary and Will had been sat on the sofa watching the TV, but they were now stood on their feet looking very surprised to see Seb in front of them.

“Cup of tea?” Mark asked with a welcoming smile.

“Please” Seb sighed as he dumbed his bags by the front door. “Splash of milk and half a teaspoon of sugar” Mark nodded and dived into the kitchen.

“Maybe it’s a good thing you’re here” Mary said with a small shake of the head.

“Seanagh went for a shower when we got back and she hasn’t left her room and that was two hours ago” Will scratched the back of his neck and bit down on his lower lip to stop it from trembling. Seb scoffed and shook his head; he didn’t need to ask why because he already knew why Seanagh was so upset.

It wasn’t the fact she’d had a puncture right at the end of the race, it was because some sections of the crowd took joy in seeing her Ferrari having some kind of failure.

“We’ve all tried speaking to her but… it’s been a long while and-” Mark cut himself off as he returned from the kitchen with his hands in his pockets. As Sebastian looked between Mary, Mark and Will he mentally admitted defeat and put his keys in one of his pockets.

“Would you like me to try and talk to her?” It was clearly what they all wanted to ask but maybe didn’t know how to say it.

“Please”

“If you could”

“We just want to know that she’s alright” Seb nodded and turned on his heels to make his way down the hall to Seanagh’s room which sat at the end. He pressed his ear against the wood to see if she had the TV on but heard nothing, so he knocked on the door three times and waited.

“It’s me” Seb could swear he heard the sound of crumpling bedsheets and took a small step back in the hope that Seanagh was about to open the door. She did in fact; her hair still looked damp from being washed, she had a fluffy dressing gown on and a desolate look on her face.

Seb sighed and brushed past Seanagh and sat down on her bed as she slowly closed the door. She looked incredibly sorry for herself but Seb definitely wasn’t going to say that because it was probably the last thing she needed to hear. “They’re worried about you” Seb said as Seanagh sat next to him and nestled her head into the crook of his shoulder. “Darling I’m sorry” He took one of her hands and held it tightly. “I’m so, so sorry” No driver ever deserved something bad happening to them at their home race, a small part of Seb always hated seeing it happen.

“I don’t get it” Seanagh’s voice sounded broken and she looked as if she was on the verge of tears. “Last year they didn’t mind and now suddenly me being a Ferrari driver is suddenly a bad thing. I mean how dare I take an opportunity to try and save my career?!” Seanagh sobbed and buried her face in her hands. Sebastian said nothing and rubbed one of Seanagh’s arms and gently kissed her hair.

He’d always thought that the British fans didn’t mind what team their drivers drove for, after all Mike Hawthorn and John Surtees had won championships with Ferrari, why would a title fight between Sebastian and Lewis make that any different when Seanagh wasn’t even involved. Fans were so strange, Sebastian thought, he didn’t want to understand their reasoning. “Aren’t you going to say anything?!” Seanagh raised her voice as she stood up from the bed and looked at Seb with puffy red eyes.

“What can I say?” That he hated the fact the fans had made Seanagh so upset, that he wanted her to at least be in the same room as her family so they could stop worrying about her, that Sebastian really just wanted to hold Seanagh until she felt better. Seb stood up and pulled Seanagh into his arms and just let her cry into his shoulder. He held her close and rubbed her back and felt so relieved when her tears finally began to subside. “Just go through and sit with your family, it’ll help more than you think” So many times after an awful race Seb had taken great comfort in speaking to his family over the phone for hours on end, sometimes just hearing their voices was enough.

“Are you staying?”

“If you want me to”

“I do”

“Alright then” Sebastian nodded and left the room to allow Seanagh get changed into her pyjamas. When he walked into the living room a steaming mug of tea and even some chocolate biscuits was waiting for him on the coffee table. “She’ll just be a minute” Mary sighed with relief and got up from her seat.

“I’ll make her some tea” Bless the Brits and their tea; it really was the answer to just about anything. “How bad is she?”

“Just a little bit of sugar should do” Both Ferrari drivers had the habit of always taking sugar in their tea when they were in an awful mood. Neither of them told their trainers in fear of having sachets of organic sweetener thrown at them.

“Hello love” Mark smiled at his daughter when she finally walked into the living room. Seanagh made a bee line for Sebastian and sat right next to him almost squishing his arm, he didn’t say anything when her hand slipped into his. “Mum’s just making you a cuppa”

“They even broke out the chocolate digestives” Seb smiled in the hope it would cheer Seanagh up a little, the tiny smile that appeared was considered a victory by everyone else in the room.

 

Seanagh for once didn’t care about keeping up appearances around Seb for her parents’ sake. She just wanted the company without having to hide for a change. She stayed in the living room with her parents and Seb until just after ten when she decided to go to bed. Seanagh returned to her bedroom and climbed into her king size bed alone with a sad sigh as she nestled herself under her duvet. She tried to go to sleep but failed, and spent the next half hour tossing and turning trying to find a comfortable spot when she just couldn’t.

Suddenly the door to her bedroom was quietly eased open and softly shut. Seanagh sat up and sighed with a small smile at the sight of Sebastian gently putting his suitcase on the carpet.

“Hey”

“I thought you were asleep”

“I can’t get to sleep” Seanagh lay back down as Seb quickly got changed and got into the other side of the bed, she waited until he was still and comfortable before she put her head on his shoulder and rested her hand on his chest. “Night Seb”

“Night my love” Sebastian softly pressed his lips against her forehead before closing his eyes and resting his head against hers and wrapping his arms around her. Seanagh loved Seb’s forehead kisses; they were always so sweet and intimate and made her feel safe no matter where she was or what had happened. She let out a quiet content sigh as she closed her eyes and slowly drifted off to sleep at long last.

 

A long lie-in on the Monday morning after a race was probably one of the best things in Sebastian’s mind. As he woke he took in a few slow and deep breaths before opening his eyes, a smile appearing in his face almost instantly. Seanagh was still tucked under Seb’s arm and nestled into his side, her head on his shoulder with her hand resting over his heart. It gave Seb such a warm feeling in his chest as he buried his nose in Seanagh’s hair. It was an almost perfect moment; just them together in the same place with no pretences or obligations for the day.

Sebastian could feel himself beginning to doze off again when there was a gentle knock on Seanagh’s bedroom door. He quietly groaned and sat himself up only by a few inches.

“Yeah?” He spoke quietly with a yawn. The door opened and Mary and Mark tiptoed in, both of them holding a steaming mug each.

“Morning” Mary smiled as her and Mark put the mugs down on each of the bedside tables. “It’s just gone half past ten”

“We’ll make you both some breakfast” Mark whispered and let Mary leave the room first before softly closing the door behind him. Seb let out a gentle sigh and looked down to see Seanagh still fast asleep. He carefully picked up the hand that was resting on his chest and held it for a moment before kissing her knuckles and placing her hand back down again. Seanagh began to stir but kept her eyes firmly closed, Seb hated having to wake her up on their day off but he didn’t want the cup of tea her parents had made to go cold.

“Morning darling” Seb spoke quietly as Seanagh slowly began to wake.

“Oh I forgot how nice this was, waking up next to you” Seanagh smiled and opened her green eyes that always seemed to have some kind of sparkle in them when they were together. Sebastian just smiled and kissed the top of Seanagh’s head before they sat up to grab their hot drinks before curling into each other’s side again. Seb had an arm round Seanagh’s shoulders as they sat drinking their tea talking about nothing.

As the pair laughed over something Seb smiled as he looked out the large windows and saw the London skyline. He never could have imagined himself enjoying spending time in a city that was so large and busy and full of sneaking paparazzi, everything that Seb tried to avoid away from racing. It was why he liked Switzerland so much; it was quiet and not too far from home. Although there were some days when he would just be by himself and it would be just a little bit too quiet.

That was why he loved Seanagh’s flat, it was in a quieter part of the city – that had a large park across the road for small morning runs and wasn’t that far from Richmond Park for some more intense training days. This part of London wasn’t so bad, as long as Seanagh was there.

“Seb?” Seanagh asked when she caught him staring out of the window. He turned back to look at her and smiled instantly.

“Just enjoying the moment” Seanagh beamed and reached over to put her now empty mug on the bedside table next to Sebastian, somehow stealing a kiss from him in the process. Three small knocks on the door followed by Mark saying that their breakfast was ready forced them out of bed. Seanagh went over to a chair in the corner of the room and picked up a grey branded hoodie that clearly wasn’t her size when she pulled it on over her head. “Is that mine?” Seb asked when he saw the small Pepe Jeans logo on Seanagh’s shoulder.

“It might be” Seanagh replied tentatively. “I found it at the bottom of a drawer with some of your old Red Bull stuff the other day, I was going to ask if you wanted it back but I wasn’t sure how to bring it up”

“Just keep it” Seb shrugged as he opened the bedroom door. “Best not tell Maurizio about the Red Bull shirts though” He joked as Seanagh followed him down the hall and into the living room where Will was sat cross legged on the sofa with his laptop on his knees.

“Wow you’re both finally awake”

“Morning to you too Will” Seanagh ruffled her brother’s hair before following Sebastian into the kitchen.

The breakfast bar had been set with two bowls of yogurt and chia seeds and three smaller bowls of chopped fruit with fresh mugs of tea and two small glasses of orange juice. Seb was stunned by the obvious amount of effort that Seanagh’s parents had put in, he didn’t sit down until Mary reassured him that this was a ‘post-bad race breakfast’ and that her and Mark really didn’t mind chopping up some fruit and getting a couple of things out the fridge. Seanagh sat down opposite him and happily tucked into her breakfast and looked up when she realised Seb was sat smiling at her.

“What?”

“I forgot how nice this was, breakfast with you” Seanagh let out a light laugh as she got up from her seat and went over to Sebastian and quietly whispered that she loved him before wrapping her arms around his neck and gently kissing him.

 

“So” Mark placed his empty mug on the coffee table and turned to his wife next to him in the sofa, Will had gone for a shower meaning they were by themselves in the living room with just the TV showing the day’s news for company. “About Hungary” Mary hummed and pondered for a moment.

“I’m going to ask her what on earth she’s doing with Sebastian” Mark nodded, they had both wondered for months just how close Seanagh was with her team mate. Of course their daughter seemed perfectly happy and that was fine, and neither of them minded Sebastian really. Mark and Mary just wanted know, just in case at any point they’d need to protect them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Brownie points for anyone who figures out what was so special about the roses! (and sorry for the chapter being longer than usual... again)


	41. Relief

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Crisis averted?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just want to start off by saying how sorry I am for the month long gap. My final semester of university has really caught up on me so I've had to put this on the back burner for a few weeks, thankfully I have a big deadline in a few days and then my three week easter break which I hope to start writing this again then. Again, so sorry about the long break x  
> PS - another long chapter to try and make up for it

_Friday 28th July – Budapest_

The weather couldn’t have been more glorious, and unlike the previous year it looked set to continue into the rest of the race weekend. So far the sunshine wasn’t quite reflecting the mood in the Ferrari camp (the times after first and second practice weren’t as good as had been hoped), but as a whole the team was far more hopeful than they had been at Silverstone since Antonio and Charles were pulling the nightshift on the simulator. And at least the tyres looked like they were set to last the full stint this time.

“So what do you want to talk about?” Seanagh asked her Mum when they both walked into Seanagh’s hotel room after returning from the circuit. Seanagh dumped her things on a chair near her bed and sat down smiling at Mary who had her eyebrows firmly knitted together.

“Ideally I wouldn’t be asking this the night before qualifying, but…” Mary sat down on the end of the bed next to her daughter, Seanagh cleared her throat hoping that whatever her Mum was about to ask her wasn’t going to be that bad. “I- sorry we, me and your father, just want to know that everything’s alright”

“I’m pretty sure it is Mum” Seanagh let out a nervous laugh and a sigh of relief. “What makes you think it wouldn’t be?”

“I meant with Sebastian”

“Oh” Seanagh paused for a moment and then shrugged. “Seb and me are fine” She saw the concerned look on Mary’s face and sighed. “Is that about what happened after Silverstone a couple of weeks ago?”

“You both just seemed so close, now Seanagh I know you were nervous about telling us the last time but we won’t mind. To tell you the truth Will really likes Sebastian now and your father and me… well we’ve warmed to him. And as long as you’re happy love that’s all that really matters to us”

“I’m not dating Seb again if that’s what you all think”

“You’re not?”

“No”

“Why not? You seem so happy around each other”

“It’s complicated” Seanagh huffed and fell back onto the bed with her hands over her face. Seanagh moved her hands away and started picking at her fingernails as Mary moved a few inches up the bed so she could comfortably rest a hand on her daughter’s arm.

“Is it about when he broke up with you?”

“No it’s not that”

“Did you forgive him?”

“No I just… I get why he broke up with me I guess” Seanagh sighed and rolled over to one side and proper herself up with her elbow. She looked up at her Mum, whose face didn’t show any judgement or anger, just a sweet and heartfelt smile.

Reluctantly, Seanagh took a breath and told Mary about everything that had happened between her and Seb at Kimi’s wedding reception. “…And after we left he expanded on what he told me earlier on, how if Ferrari ever found out about us that Seb would have a chance to tell his side of the story but I wouldn’t get to say mine. And because Seb didn’t know who he was going to be working with he didn’t want to run the risk of them judging me so… he thought that breaking up with me would be less painful than having a whole team not respect me just because I was in a relationship with one of their drivers” Seanagh paused as she went back to looking down at her fingernails.

“Sounds like he was trying to protect you”

“I think he was you know… just like I tried to do with Tom”

“Oh Seanagh…” Mary frowned and shook her head.

“No I’m serious, I knew that if I had married him the constant nit-picking from his parents would just get under my skin and drive us apart and the only thing that was going to happen was a messy divorce, and he didn’t deserve to go through that and…” Seanagh’s voice grew increasingly shaky as she spoke so she cut herself off and jumped of the bed heading for her room’s small balcony.

She pushed the door open and wrapped her hands around the railing and took in a deep breath of air and slowly let it out again. By that point Mary had joined her and rubbed her hand between Seanagh’s shoulder blades. “I love Seb you know, I completely fell for him again and I don’t regret it for a second because I genuinely an happy… he asked me a while ago why I was so afraid of getting back together with him and I finally figured out why” Mary didn’t say anything and gave Seanagh the space she needed to carry on when she was ready. “What if we get back together and the team don’t like it, what if the board members find out and they _really_ don’t like it, what if Mr Marchionne asks me to choose between Seb and my place on the team? I couldn’t… I couldn’t hurt him like that” Seanagh leaned forward and squeezed her eyes shut in the hope it would stop any tears from falling down her cheeks.

“There, there sweetheart…” Mary spoke quietly as she continued to rub Seanagh’s back. “Oh dear…”

“What?” Seanagh darted up and frantically looked around before glancing over her right shoulder and seeing blue, locking eyes with her team mate. Because of course their rooms had been put right next to each other.

“I best get going, I think you two need to talk”

“See you Mum” Seanagh watched Mary quickly and quietly leave before looking over her shoulder again to see that Sebastian had vanished. She hurried back into her room closing the balcony doors behind her and went to get her phone from her bag when Sebastian quietly walked in with his hands in his pockets.

“Hey” He spoke quietly with a sheepish smile.

“Hi”

“Your Mum waited so she could let me in” Seanagh gave Seb a small smile as she went back over to the end of the bed and sat down with her face buried in her hands. She heard Seb crouch down in front of her and felt him gently rub her shoulder so Seanagh moved her hands away so see Sebastian smiling at her warmly. “It’s okay darling”

“It’s not… you shouldn’t have had to hear it like that” Seb said nothing and squeezed one of Seanagh’s hands. “I’m sorry”

“If that’s really how you feel then why couldn’t you tell me?”

“Because I only just figured out why I’m being so apprehensive about us” Seanagh frowned with a sigh. “It’s just that… when two people are in a relationship together they’re either going to break up or spend the rest of their lives together and… “She paused as Seb took in a quiet and slightly shaky breath “Well you already know I don’t want to break up with you again”

“Me neither” Seb replied and gently kissed Seanagh’s hand.

“I really do love you Sebastian”

“I know” He stood up from his spot on the floor and sat down next to Seanagh, still holding one of her hands while brushing his thumb across her cheek at the same time. “I love you too” Sebastian leaned forward and planed a firm kiss on Seanagh’s forehead before he peppered kisses down one side of her face and eventually kissed her deeply on the lips before breaking away for air and resting his forehead against hers.

 

_Saturday 29 th July – Hungaroring _

The bright sun in the sky just about matched the look on Sebastian’s face as he made his way towards scrutineering. He deliberately took his time, hugging as many people from his team as he could. He only had time for a half-hug from Antti as someone from the FIA had to drag Seb for the top three driver picture. Seanagh was already there making small talk with Valtteri; she smiled when Sebastian finally emerged from the crowd of mechanics.

“Hello team mate” She smirked as she placed her hand on the small of Seb’s back. The top three all smiled for the cameras and Seb briefly did his winning celebration before the drivers were called into scrutineering to be weighed. The Ferrari drivers deliberately hung back so Valtteri could go first, allowing Seanagh and Sebastian to pull each other into a tight hug in celebration of their third qualifying front row lockout of the season. “Pole again, well done Seb” Seanagh smiled as she was the next driver to jump onto the scales.

“Thanks” Seb was next and waited as Antti looked over Charlie Whiting’s shoulder to make sure that everything was in order before Richard and Britta appeared to take their drivers to the post-qualifying press conference.

 

“I suppose some congratulations are in order” Mary politely smiled at Norbert as she sat down at his table.

“Thank you, but I think the same can be said for you also” Mary just smiled politely in response as the press conference flashed up on the TV screens on the wall of the Ferrari motorhome. “Nice to see them both happy” Norbert remarked as Sebastian answered his question with a beaming grin while Seanagh had a smaller yet prominent smile on her face.

“Yes, they definitely needed this after Silverstone” Mary nodded and tapped her fingers against the table. “Let’s hope the tyres decide to last tomorrow” So many people had been making comments over the weekend about how Ferrari’s poor showing at Silverstone brought the team’s form for the rest of the season into question.  Like Norbert Mary hoped that yet another Ferrari 1-2 and an easy win tomorrow for one of them would put those questions on hold.

“Is she back yet?” Mary turned round so see Will excitedly rushing over, his camera swinging round his neck as he made his way through the tables.

“No not yet, and be careful where you go with that… isn’t that the lens Seanagh got you?” Mary didn’t want to completely scold her son, Will was always so happy on a race weekend doing what he loved. He was one of those people that just had to be there so he could lap up every moment.

“It is! I got this amazing picture as Seanagh and Seb came into the pits” Will sat down and started scrolling through his camera roll, his eyes still clearly sparkling from excitement. “There look” He made sure that both Norbert and Mary could see the small LED screen on the back of his camera, showing a picture of Seanagh and Sebastian with their cars side by side before they pulled into the pit lane, you could just about make out their raised hands as they congratulated each other.

“Very nice” Norbert hummed and went back to having one eye on the press conference.

“Seanagh might like that one for her social media pages”

“I thought that… how about this one of the Force India, that was in Q2 I think” Mary just smiled as she let Will excitedly ramble on about what he thought were the best pictures had taken, she briefly looked over her shoulder to see Seanagh answering a question from one of the journalists.

“Nothing new to report on the contract front, maybe getting the team another 1-2 today helped I don’t know” She shrugged with a bright smile as Sebastian chuckled.

“Seb would you mind having Seanagh as your teammate again for next season and possibly beyond?”

“Well obviously that decision lies with the team but…” Seb shrugged, his grin not faltering once. “I don’t know I think we make a good pair, I’d be alright with it I guess” Norbert groaned and muttered under his breath in German before turning to face Mary.

“It’s very obvious isn’t it?”

“How smitten he is? Definitely” Mary replied with a small shake of the head and a sigh. “They really do care about each other you know”

“Oh I noticed, he has this big smile on his face whenever he talks about her” Norbert paused to think for a moment before smiling. “As long as they are happy yes?”

“As long as they’re happy”

 

_Sunday 30 th July_

Antti huffed as he crossed his arms across his chest and nervously watched the TV screens as the race restart neared. He sighed in relief at the sight of both Ferrari’s getting away cleanly one after the other, Seanagh following Sebastian closely, but not too closely. For about twenty laps after the restart the race went on mostly trouble free which allowed everyone in the garage to settle down and watch the TV screens with the usual minimal amount of worry.

“Check the steering, there’s uh… hanging to the left when I go straight” Antti cursed under his breath as he heard Seb’s radio message to the team through his headset. The whole garage was now wide eyed and silent with panic and as the FOM feed very quickly caught on to Sebastian’s message and cut to an on board shot of the number five Ferrari – and sure enough Seb was clearly having to turn his steering wheel slightly to the right to counteract the issue that had appeared out of nowhere.

After running a hand across his face Antti looked over to Seanagh’s side of the garage to see Richard and Vanessa having equally pained and bemused expressions on their faces. Britta returned a minute or so later and also quietly swore under her breath when Antti quietly filled her in.

“When did this happen?” She hissed while looking up at the screen.

“Just now” Antti replied, Britta scoffed and shook her head. “Seanagh’s car seems fine so that’s something” Antti had been in the F1 paddock long enough to know that steering issues didn’t just magically fix themselves so he started counting all the positives he could find. So much for a trouble free race as the whole team had hoped for after the Silverstone tyre disaster.

“Britta how the hell are we supposed to address this?” Richard came over to the other side of the garage waggling the team’s social media phone in the air. “I haven’t seen anything like this before”

“Wait until the team get back to him, try sticking to what they say” Richard nodded and quickly went back to Seanagh’s side of the garage.

 

“Okay Seb, try to avoid the kerbs that’s the best way to manage the issue at the moment”

“Right Seanagh Seb has a steering issue with his car, just be careful we don’t want the same thing happening to you”

The two messages were sent out to each driver almost one after the other. Mary was glad she had decided to wait out the first half of the race in the Ferrari motorhome; she was sat with Norbert who with each passing lap began to look more and more uneasy as Seanagh and both Mercedes cars began to catch up on the race leading Ferrari.

 

Seanagh’s mental lap count of how much of the race had gone went completely out the window when she’d been informed about Seb’s steering problem on his car. Ever since then she’d had one eye on her team mate, which she was now running just half a second behind him, and one eye on the wing mirrors in the hope that the silver blob trailing behind her wasn’t getting too close for comfort.

“Is this all he has? I don’t like how close the Mercedes is getting” Either Seanagh’s eyes were deceiving her or the silver dot in her wing mirror had been getting slightly large over the last few laps. “I know we have 1-2 right now but… there’s nothing I can do right now to defend it”

This wasn’t how the race was supposed to be going; both Ferrari’s were supposed to be leading the race with no problems and with a good chunk of time between them and the cars behind them. Freak steering issues weren’t supposed to be affecting one of their cars and yet here Seanagh was, following her team mate’s compromised car with the two Mercedes closing in.

“He’s still got the handling issues Seanagh, there’s nothing we can do at the moment” Dave replied over the radio, it was clear he was trying to sound calm because his voice had that slight underlying quaver that only happened when something was majorly wrong. “If you could pull back from Seb by a couple of tenths just to look after the tyres” Seanagh quietly did as she was told and broke ever so slightly earlier into the next corner to increase the gap slightly between the two Ferrari’s. She didn’t know why she had been following Sebastian so closely, maybe it was out of frustration that another race wasn’t going their way despite the fact Ferrari were still on their way to securing another 1-2 finish.

With the message from the team Seanagh remembered to look at her pit board the next time around and started to count the remaining laps again. Roughly ten laps had passed until Seanagh got another radio message.

“Right Mercedes have let Hamilton through, so he may become a threat. I know it’s going to be difficult but we need you to keep him behind us”

“Okay” Seanagh quickly replied as she looked into her wing mirror and saw that same silver blur hovering behind her. Of course she had to be the one defending the team’s position because Sebastian certainly wasn’t able to tussle with Hamilton when his car had still forgotten what going in a straight line actually meant.

So Seanagh sighed and nestled down in her seat; one eye on her team mate, the other on the ever threatening Mercedes.

 

Sebastian could not have been more relieved to see the chequered flag, let alone being the first one to cross the finish line. He saw his mechanics had already climbed up onto the fencing along the straight so, as Seb always did, he pulled his car slightly closer towards the wall and briefly raised his fist in the air as he crossed the line before quickly gripping his hand round the steering wheel to stop the car from veering off in the wrong direction.

“One and two, well managed. Nice drive” Seb finally allowed himself to smile after Riccardo’s radio message. Seanagh had managed to stay in second place which given the situation she had been unintentionally put into was a huge relief as he pulled his Ferrari into parc ferme after his now customary overjoyed message back to the team in Italian.

The first person Seb went to when he got out the car was his Dad. He pulled him into a tight hug before celebrating with the rest of his mechanics and getting a celebratory pat on the back from Antti before Seb had to run inside for the podium so someone from the FIA didn’t have to drag him up the stairs.

Sebastian near-skipped into the cool down room and jumped onto the scales and jumped off again when the FIA rep was happy. Seb put his helmet down on the table and grabbed a bottle of water before going over to Seanagh who was slumped on a chair in the corner of the room with a towel in one hand and a bottle of water in the other.

“Hey” Seb spoke cautiously, just in case his team mate was suddenly going to go off at him for his steering problem. “Sorry about what happened” Seanagh looked bemused as she knotted her eyebrows together and frowned.

“You’re sorry for winning?” She asked before taking a long swig of water.

“No my steering problem” Seb huffed and took a drink himself. “Sorry you were forced to defend on my behalf” Seanagh sighed and stood up, she almost looked as if she was smiling as she towelled down her face and finished the small bottle of water.

“Well one of us had to keep our 1-2 intact, made sense for it to be the one with the working car” Seanagh smirked as she went back over the table to put on her second place Pirelli cap. “So yeah, congratulations. And you’re welcome” She patted Sebastian on the shoulder as she took her hair out of her ponytail and fixed it to her liking before putting the cap on her head. “But please don’t make me do that again” She spoke with a small smile as she went over to the podium entrance and stood next to Jock Clear. Seb took one last drink before fixing the winners cap on his head and ran out onto the podium to the loud roar of his the whole team that had gathered under the podium.

As the German anthem started and Seb just about managed to quietly sing along he felt overcome with relief; he hadn’t won a race since Monaco which had now been two months ago, and his lead in the championship standings had been widened again somewhat, Seb had no idea how big the gap now was going into the summer break but he had a feeling just about every journalist in the paddock would be letting him know over the next hour.

As always Seb beamed with pride during the Italian anthem and punched the air with a smile on the last note and quickly put his cap back on his head and eagerly watch and waited for the winner’s trophy to be put in his hands. When it was finally presented to him Seb threw it up in the air in celebration to the cheers of his mechanics. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Seanagh and Jock looking at Seb with small smiles on their faces. The red-clad team roared when Jock came forward with the constructor’s representative trophy and did so again when Seanagh lifted hers high into the air for all to see.

To everyone’s surprise Seanagh jumped off the podium, still holding her trophy, and turned to look back at Sebastian, beckoning him forward with her free hand. Seb quickly caught on and picked up his trophy and joined his team mate at the podium railing. The two team mates grinned as they put one arm round each other and lifted their trophies high into the air before running back onto the podium.

Once Valtteri had been given his trophy and the three drivers happily doused each other in champagne the podium interviews got underway. Seb praised the team and Seanagh did too after quickly shrugging off the possibility that if she had wanted to, she could have overtaken Seb for the lead and taken the win for herself.

“Hey, um…” Seanagh gave a small wave to the crowd before turning towards Sebastian and appeared to be genuinely smiling at him.

“I’m okay Seb, you don’t need to walk on eggshells this time” She reassured with a bright smile and briefly squeezed Sebastian’s shoulder before dropping her arm back towards her side. “You know how in Abu Dhabi last year you told me after the race how you weren’t going to overtake Nico because you didn’t want to have an impact on the championship?” Seb nodded as he realised what Seanagh was talking about.

“Thanks” Sebastian unknowingly found himself grinning as he instinctively went to hold Seanagh’s hand only for her to sensibly pull it away when the tips of their fingers gently brushed against each other. Seanagh tried to stifle a small giggle but failed and looked out at the crowd.

“Not in front of millions of TV viewers Seb” She winked as the interviewer went to get the final words from a slightly bemused Sebastian.

 

Ferrari had accidentally taken over the hotel bar almost as soon as Sebastian’s mechanics had returned from the track. It had taken a few stern words from Maurizio to ensure that they kept themselves to a small section of the bar so they didn’t disturb the rest of the guests. Some other people from the team had decided to join them for a couple of celebratory drinks – Seanagh and Sebastian especially who had been sat at separate tables before they both went to the bar to get drinks, much to the amusement of Emilio and Seb’s number one mechanic Alessandro.

“Hey be careful piccolina, he might hold your hand again!”

“Yes Seb, you are in public remember!” Both Seanagh and Seb chuckled at the teasing from their mechanics about Sebastian’s little podium gesture that had in fact been picked up by the TV cameras. Seanagh shook her head as she ordered her and Seb a small glass of champagne each from one of the bar staff. When they went away Seanagh looked over to Seb who appeared to be thinking about something, only for a look of realisation to wash over his face.

“We just figured out the same thing haven’t we?” Seanagh sighed as she tapped her fingers against the bar. “That maybe they wouldn’t mind as much as we thought” Seanagh said with an obvious tilt of the head towards the table her and Seb’s mechanics and engineers had gathered themselves round.

“Yeah” Seb sighed and nodded and accepted his and Seanagh’s drinks when they arrived, he used the time to hand Seanagh her drink to pause and think about what he wanted to say. “I thought about what you said to me on Friday”

“Oh”

“No, no! It’s nothing bad darling honestly” Sebastian replied hurriedly allowing Seanagh to breathe a sigh of relief; she smiled and waited for Seb to continue as he leaned in a little bit closer. “I just realised that spending the rest of my life with you isn’t that bad a prospect” Seanagh blushed as Seb set aside his glass and gently placed his hand on top of hears. “And… I won’t push you”

“So the ball’s in my court then”

“Since there’s a lack of a good motor racing analogy then yes, if you’re alright with that”

“I am” Seanagh nodded and picked up her champagne flute. “I feel like we should toast to something but I’ve no idea what” Seb hummed and let out a small chuckle as he hovered his own glass millimetres away from Seanagh’s.

“To both finishing the race in one piece” Seanagh tilted her glass forward making a tiny clink sound as her and Sebastian took a small sip of champagne. “We should probably go and see them before I get accused of stealing you away” Seb grinned as he and Seanagh walked over to their mechanics’ table and sat down to join them.

“Hey where’s our champagne?!” Claudio, one of Seb’s engineers, cried in a tipsy despair.

“You’ve already got one!” Seb pointed to Claudio’s half empty glass and chuckled when the Italian complained about his plan to get a free drink getting foiled.

“You two are sat very close together” Seanagh rolled her eyes at Stefano’s observation of the two team mates. “Seb are you holding her hand under the table?” He joked as the whole table burst into laughter while Seb’s face turned bright pink.

“Boys…” Seanagh cast a stern eye over the table as she did in fact squeeze Sebastian’s hand under the table in reassurance. “Leave him alone” She shook her head and stood up saying she was going to sit with her Mum, Richard and Vanessa. “But since you all need shutting up on the matter” Seanagh leaned down and kissed Seb firmly on the cheek for all their mechanics to see before she quickly left, mouthing sorry to Seb over her shoulder as she walked away leaving the table in a stunned silence and Seb with a smirk on his face. “Hey” Seanagh smiled as she slid into the booth Richard had been keeping for the past few minutes with Vanessa got another drinks order in.

“What did you say to them?” Mary chuckled as she looked over her shoulder. “I’ve never seen such a large group of mechanics so quiet before”

“I didn’t say anything; Seb must have tried to tell a joke again” Richard and Vanessa both laughed as Seb walked past, still smiling happily to himself.

“Hey Seb, another one of your jokes fall flat again?” Richard asked only for Seb to give a sad nod and a shrug.

“As a pancake!”

“Oh before I forget to say Sebastian, congratulations on the win today” Mary briefly patted Seb on the arm and smiled politely at him.

“Thanks, I hope you all have a nice summer”

“You too team mate” Seanagh gave Seb a knowing smile as he turned to head back to his own table where Britta and Antti were sitting. She sighed as he left and took another sip of her champagne; Sebastian was probably going to give her all the time in the world when she didn’t know how much time she did need. If any at all.


	42. Sunshine and Showers

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Could it be that things were going just too well?

_Thursday 24 th August – Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps_

Richard let out a very content sigh as he drank the last of his espresso and carefully set the tiny paper cup back on the table. After buzzing around making phone calls and approving interview requests with Stefania and Maurizio both Richard and Britta were sat enjoying the last of their break as their drivers were set to return from their track walks any minute. As usual Antti and Vanessa had gone with Sebastian and Seanagh leaving the two press officers to talk amongst themselves. A small part of Richard wished he was still on holiday since the Summer Break hadn’t lasted long enough (it never really did) but it was always nice to have a catch up with Britta.

“Oh there you are!” Both Richard and Britta looked up as Stefania hurried over towards their table, she smiled at her colleagues and pulled out one of the free chairs and sat down. “I’m sorry to have to cut your break short” Richard let out a quiet sigh as Stefi spoke. “I need a small press release done before you take Seanagh to see the press, Britta if you could do the social media posts. I’ve emailed you both the details”

“Okay” Britta nodded and pulled out her phone from her pocket.

“What’s this for Stefi?” Richard asked with a slight tilt of the head. Stefania went to reply, but stopped herself as Seanagh returned with Vanessa and her engineers and went straight over to speak with her manager who incidentally had been sat by herself working on her laptop with a phone pressed to her ear ever since she’d arrived. “I’ll go get confirmation from Maurizio then” Richard slowly stood up from his seat still watching Seanagh and Rebecca have their conversation.

“Thanks Richard” Stefania rushed off again and Richard and Britta shared a knowing look before Richard headed towards Maurizio’s office with a small smile on his face.

 

“Perhaps we should continue this conversation upstairs?” Rebecca lowered her voice even more and tilted her head towards the motorhome entrance where Sebastian had returned from his track walk with Antti and his engineers. Seanagh hummed and gave a small nod and waited for her manager to collect her things as she led the way upstairs to Seanagh’s driver room.

“Sorry Will, can you give us a few minutes?” Seanagh asked her brother when she opened the door. Will, who had been doing a quick inventory of his camera kit, took one look at Rebecca and quickly left saying he’d be downstairs with Vanessa. “So” Seanagh sighed as she quietly closed the door to her driver room and leaned against it. Rebecca just smiled warmly at her client as she clasped her hands together.

“You have offers”

“As in plural?”

“You’re a three time Grand Prix winner Seanagh; of course you have half the grid interested in you”

“Okay” Seanagh bit down on her lip and nodded. All she wanted was for one of those offers to be from Ferrari.

“Now the smaller ones I turned down, but the two biggest ones that are worth your attention…” Rebecca paused as she got some papers out of her briefcase. “Mercedes have finally understood what an official offer actually is. A one plus one deal with about the same money you’re getting right now…” Rebecca trailed off as she sorted through sheets of paper and shrugged.

“And the second one?” Seanagh asked nervously. She knew that she wasn’t having the best year compared to Sebastian; but she had still won a race, scored podiums and the pole position in Monaco that still had a slightly bitter taste. It was funny to think how four years ago Seanagh wouldn’t have even thought about driving for Ferrari – now she didn’t want to think about leaving.

Rebecca sighed with a small smile and shook her head at how worried Seanagh looked.

“The Scuderia of course” Seanagh breathed a sigh of relief and finally found it in her to sit down. “It’s a solid three year deal, with a far better salary than what you’re getting just now plus increased bonuses. I know you’ve never had a real interest in the money but-”

“Three years?!” Seanagh exclaimed and covered her mouth with her hands. She could feel her lips curving into a wide grin as her delayed reaction kicked in after the shock. “The team really want to keep me on for three years?!” Seanagh near squealed with joy. “Becks are you kidding me?!” Rebecca said nothing and just nodded, her smile still fixed in place.

“I was in Italy last week personally to speak to Maurizio and Mr Marchionne; they couldn’t have sung your praises any louder. Dare I say it; they want you and Sebastian to be the team’s future”

“Oh my gosh…” Seanagh stood up and walked around in a small circle, trying to stop herself from crying out of sheer happiness. The thought of her being at Ferrari for the next three seasons felt like a dream. Some drivers in the past used to always talk about finding their home within a team, maybe Seanagh had finally found hers.

“I don’t need to ask which one you want do I?”

“No” Seanagh shook her head, still smiling brightly almost with tears in her eyes.

“Go tell your family then while I find Maurizio to get everything in order before you speak to the press” Out of nowhere Seanagh lunged forward and hugged her manager.

“You’re an absolute star Becks!” Seanagh exclaimed as she opened the door.

“I just have good clients who do all my work for me” Seanagh blushed as she practically ran down the stairs and made a beeline for Will and Vanessa, and very excitedly told them the good news.

 

The ink hadn’t even dried on Seanagh’s brand new contract when Richard appeared with a freshly printed press release in his hands needing Maurizio’s approval and a quick picture for it to be published.

“Three more years at Maranello” Richard beamed as he picked Seanagh up in a giant hug and gently put her back down on the ground. “Best news I’ve heard all day” He left as quickly as he arrived to collect his sunglasses and dictaphone from the PR office so he would be ready to take Seanagh to the press pen for her interviews.

“Thank you so much for this Maurizio” Seanagh smiled at her boss. “This…” She looked down at her surroundings, then at the Ferrari logo on her shirt, words apparently seeming to fail her.

“Thank you Seanagh, for choosing us” Seanagh smiled as Maurizio clapped his driver on the shoulder, the Italian wearing an equally bright and proud smile. “Ah… I think you are due to see the press no?” Maurizio looked at his watch and frowned; Seanagh checked the time on her own watch and sighed. She still had a few more minutes and she hadn’t told everyone her good news.

“Would it be alright if I quickly tell Seb before I go? I’d rather he heard it from me. Since I assume he’s going to be my team mate for the next three years” Maurizio sighed and shook his head with a small smirk, he knew that Seanagh had put together the little pieces both he and Becks had said to figure out who would be occupying the other side of the Ferrari garage.

“Just don’t be late to see the press” Seanagh nodded and left Maurizio’s office quietly closing the door behind her. She crossed the floor and knocked on the door to Seb’s room and waited hoping Britta hadn’t dragged him away just yet.

“Could you get that?” Her team mate’s German accent filtered through the door as Antti opened it wide.

“Hey Seanagh” The Finn stepped aside and allowed Seanagh into the small room as Sebastian was still getting his things in order for tomorrow’s free practice sessions. “I can go if you want”

“Oh no it’s fine, I just have news”

“Oh?” Seb finally stopped what he was doing and looked towards his team mate with a curious expression. Seanagh grinned and clapped her hands together before speaking.

“I just signed a new three year contract” Antti congratulated Seanagh with a friendly pat on the shoulder while Sebastian grinned and picked his team mate up in an almost bone-crushing hug.

“Congratulations!” Seb beamed as he carefully put Seanagh back on the ground while Antti decided to give the two drivers some space as he wandered over to the mini-fridge.

“You’re signing yours next week right Seb?” He asked as he opened a bottle of water.

“Uh yeah… that’s the plan anyway. Might be tomorrow actually” Sebastian replied, looking only at Seanagh, smiling brightly as she beamed up at him. They would probably talk about it later back at the hotel, but right now they definitely liked the sound of being team mates for three more seasons.

“I have to go to the press pen, I just wanted to tell you guys myself” Seanagh smiled at her colleagues and stepped one foot out of Seb’s room where Britta and Richard were waiting patiently. Seanagh held the door open to allow Britta to speak to her own driver while Seanagh took her cap from Richard and fixed it on her head.

“Now you’ve definitely told everyone?”

“I texted Mia before signing the deal and Will managed to grab a hold of Mum and Dad while I was with Maurizio”

“And Jolyon and your uncle?”

“Texted them too” Seanagh smiled as she lifted her sunglasses from her shirt collar and slid them on over her eyes as her and Richard walked out into the warm and sunny paddock. “Are you staying too?” Seanagh asked as they walked towards the press pen.

“Might as well…” Richard shrugged speaking in an overly blasé tone. “Course I am mate” Richard smiled down as his driver and briefly squeezed her shoulders before resuming their professional stance as they walked into the press pen.

 

_My team, and now my home for the next three years #ForzaFerrari_

Seanagh smiled as she posted the picture of the Ferrari logo to her social media accounts, she’d kept the caption simple to avoid an over-emotional ramble but it said what it needed to. That the team she loved was now her home and Seanagh wasn’t going anywhere else.

Vanessa and Richard had both posted a different picture, the Velcro name badges from their team raincoats arranged in a column.

_Three more years of the dream team at Ferrari!_

They both had captioned it, with the team approved hashtags of course.

Seanagh sighed as she left her driver room and sat at the top of the stairs with Richard and Vanessa, they were all waiting for Sebastian to finish his media conference so they could all grab a drink and a small bite to eat before the drivers had another meeting with their engineers.

“We’re all pretty much certain that you’ll be staying at Ferrari Seb, but what do you make of Seanagh being set to stay at the team long term?” They only just overheard the question since the journalist had been sat towards the back of the room. Vanessa and Richard smirked at each other as they awaited Seb’s reply.

“I think it’s wonderful” Seb spoke into his microphone, allowing the trio sat at the top of the stairs to hear his answer more clearly. “Seanagh is a great driver, very talented, and I think what she’s done for Formula 1 has been brilliant. So for the sport it’s good and for us… She has been a wonderful addition to the team; she’s won two amazing races with Ferrari. But she works so hard behind the scenes and she’s very driven which I think has really helped push us all forward”

“From your own perspective, has she been a good team mate?” There was lengthy pause as Sebastian contemplated his answer.

“Yes, definitely. We work well together and we get on well so… if Seanagh’s happy then I’m happy for the partnership to continue”

“Partnership?” Vanessa chuckled and shook her head.

“That’s one way of putting it” Richard smirked.

“Guys…” Seanagh lightly hit her trainer and press officer on the shoulder as the sound of moving chairs and scuffling feet signalled that the media conference was finished. Richard waited until Britta texted him that it was okay to come downstairs; even though the drivers listening in on each other’s media conferences was a regular occurrence at the European races none of the press ever needed to know since they would make that into a story of its own. “Hey Seb” Seanagh smiled at her team mate, by the time she’d reached the bottom of the stairs most of the journalists had gone.

“Hey” He smiled back and waited for Britta to rush off and find someone before he went over to speak to her. “I didn’t get the chance to say it before but… I’m glad you’re staying”

“Me too” Seanagh nodded and looked around, realising that Vanessa and Richard had deliberately stood themselves a few feet away.

“I know it felt like Monaco put some kind of wedge between us for a little bit but I’m sorry and-” Seanagh sighed and put her hand on Seb’s arm to cut him off.

“Look, about those Mercedes rumours-”

“You don’t need to explain yourself. I know how loyal you are, so does everyone else”

“Thanks Seb”

“Haven’t you got a meeting to be going to?” Britta walked over towards the pair tapping her watch and pointing at the engineer’s truck opposite the motorhome. She handed Sebastian his notebook and pen and folded her arms across her chest which caused both drivers to turn on their heels and slowly walk towards their last scheduled engagement of the day.

“For the record, I’m saying this because I want to” Seanagh spoke as her and Seb climbed the narrow set of stairs that led to the debrief room. “I didn’t think about the Merc offer for a second. I don’t want to be anywhere else” Seb briefly placed his hand on Seanagh’s shoulder and smiled as they walked over towards their seats.

“Me neither”

 

_Thursday 31 st August – Autodromo Nazionale Monza_

It wasn’t that hard to guess just who the Tifosi were cheering for, crowded round the paddock entrance in the hope of catching a glimpse of Seanagh and Sebastian. The two drivers arrived at the track within ten minutes of each other, and the loud roar that erupted when either one of them came into sight was unmissable.

The drivers signed caps, race programmes, and shirts and stopped for a small mountain of selfies before their press officers had to very reluctantly drag their drivers away into the paddock so they wouldn’t run behind on their packed schedules of track walks, press conferences and interviews.

Considering Sebastian finished second and Seanagh in fourth at Spa the Tifosi’s fanatical reaction was almost astounding, but the drivers did have a feeling that they could have both retired on the first lap and they’d still get greeted at Monza’s gates like heroes.

The rest of the morning had passed by in a mainly red flurry; the drivers had gone over their schedules with Richard and Britta over a rushed espresso before the first of their engineers meetings before they were due in the garage for their seat fit with their mechanics. After which would be the drivers press conference (which both Ferrari drivers were set to attend) and a quick trip around the press pen followed by more interviews with their track walk and lunch hopefully finding a spot in the afternoon schedule. Thursdays at Monza always were so hectic for the Scuderia.

Seanagh and Sebastian had left the engineers meeting right on time and dashed across the paddock towards the Ferrari garage exchanging small talk along the way.

“See you Seb” Seanagh beamed at her team mate as he went over to his side of the garage, she quietly chuckled to herself, recalling another one of Seb’s terrible jokes that he’d also tried on the way to the garage, before greeting her mechanics with her bright smile. “Hey guys, how’s it going?” Since it was Monza Seanagh had wanted to try the odd sentence in Italian to see how her language skills were coming along. Although judging by the looks on all of her mechanics faces they clearly weren’t very good at all. “Did I say the wrong thing?” Seanagh asked tentatively. Somehow all of her mechanics had been stunned into slice while Sebastian was joking with his on the other side of the garage.

“Well…” Emilio looked between Lucio and Stefano for some kind of silent advice. “You just spoke to us in German” Seanagh gasped and pursed her lips together and everyone just awkwardly stared at each other. In her mechanics’ minds Seanagh would only have one reason to speak German and that was what had boggled them all into silence.

“Oops”

 

Thankfully, the drivers press conference had gone far smoother than Seanagh’s seat fit. Since it had taken part in the new two section format Seanagh didn’t get to see her team mate until they walked back to the motorhome together with their press officers in tow. Seanagh never asked why Sebastian would wait around for her; apparently he’d use the time to catch up with people in the paddock.

“Okay, lunch break and then track walk” Britta announced while looking at her watch. Seanagh and Seb both breathed a sigh of relief as they went upstairs to dump their caps and sunglasses, the thought of food and a sit down with their families (who they hadn’t seen since breakfast) sounded like a wonderful prospect.

Seanagh sighed as she waited outside her driver room for Seb. They had a habit of going down to lunch together too.

“Come on, before Antti and Vanessa drag us to a table” Seb huffed as he ran a hand through his hair. Seanagh lightly touched his arm and asked him to wait before telling him about her earlier exchange with her mechanics. Seb paused for a second before bursting into laughter.

“This is not funny Sebastian!” Seanagh hissed at her team mate under her breath as they walked down the stairs from their driver rooms. Seb stopped chuckled and gave Seanagh a small look.

“They’ll be fine Seanagh, trust me. How did you get German and Italian confused anyway?” Seanagh went to reply when a voice stopped her.

“Ah piccolina!”

“Oh no…” Seanagh briefly squeezed her eyes shut before opening them again to see Lucio and Stefano stood a few feet away.

“Sorry Seb, could we talk to Seanagh for a minute?”

“Oh course” Seb gave them a charming smile and headed off to sit with his Dad and Brother. Out of nowhere Emilio appeared with two seaming paper cups and gave one of them to Seanagh. It turned out to be a cup of tea that she gladly took a sip of while her mechanics stayed completely silent.

“This isn’t an interrogation you know?” Emilio spoke with a raised eyebrow.

“It isn’t?!” Seanagh let out a nervous laugh when Lucio boomed with laughter; she finally found a smile on her face again and took another sip of her tea.

“No, we’d maybe do that to him but not you piccolina” Emilio gestured to Stefano with his thumb, making him look rather offended. “No we uh… How do you say…” Seanagh’s number one mechanic clicked his fingers, probably trying to translate what he wanted to say in his head. Seanagh took the few moments she’d been given to look over Emilio’s shoulder towards Sebastian’s table, Antti had just brought Seb his lunch while he laughed at something his younger brother had said.

“Why my good friend is trying to say” Stefano glared at Emilio for a second. “Is that what we said to you in Brazil last year still stands, if you and Sebastian are…”

“We’re not” Seanagh quickly replied. Neither Lucio, Emilio nor Stefano looked too convinced, but didn’t say anything as Vanessa finally appeared to drag Seanagh to the table where here family were sat and her lunch was waiting for her.

 

“It’s probably none of our business you know” Lucio muttered to Emilio under his breath as they went over to a table and sat down. “It’s not like they’re causing any problems”

“There’s something there, has to be” Emilio frowned, tapping his fingers against his empty coffee cup. “I tried asking Alessandro but he said he never noticed anything until Hungary”

“Nobody noticed anything between them until Hungary. Apart from Brazil last year of course” Stefano shrugged.

“This cannot leave the motorhome; they are going to be here for another three years after this” Lucio spoke sternly at his colleagues. “Gossip won’t be good for anyone, but especially them” The other two mechanics hummed and nodded in agreement before standing up to head back to the garage.

“What do you think happened between them after Brazil, you know when they arrived at the hotel together?” Stefano asked as they left the motorhome to go back over to the garage.

“I don’t think any of us really want to know”

 

_Saturday 2nd September_

“They would be mad to send you back out in that” Vanessa scoffed as Seanagh walked over to the back of the garage to put down her helmet and HANS device.

It had been raining at Monza all morning and had gotten worse during qualifying causing Grosjean to crash out during Q1. The session had been red flagged to clear up the debris and in the hope that the rain would let off.

“Look like we’re going to be here a while, heavy rain’s set to stay” Dave sighed as he came over to speak to his driver.

“Best get comfortable then” Seanagh huffed as she adjusted her ponytail so her cap would fit on her head and put on her team raincoat over her overalls and zipped it up stuffing her hands in her pockets. “I really hope Will’s not planning on staying outside” Seanagh frowned as she looked at the dark rainclouds that had gathered over the circuit.

With no given time as to when qualifying would resume everyone in the garage was left to stand around doing nothing while they waited for the track to be deemed safe to drive on again. After about half an hour Will emerged at the front of the Ferrari garage completely soaked through much to the worry of his sister.

“Will!” Seanagh’s mechanics all stood to the side to allow Seanagh to rush over to her brother and instantly start fretting over him. His curly hair was stuck to his forehead while droplets of water were dripping off Will’s camera bag and onto the already soaking wet ground.

“Good thing you got me this for my birthday” Will patted his camera bag, Seanagh had bought it because it claimed to be almost completely waterproof, she hated the thought of Will being caught at the far end of a circuit in a heavy rain shower and his camera and lenses getting ruined by the rain.

“Come inside before Mum and Dad see you on the FOM feed” Seanagh led her brother into the safety of the Ferrari garage and apologised for Will’s wet footprints getting all over the garage floor as they went to the back of the garage where Richard had just appeared with a few towels and the spare shirt Will always kept with Seanagh’s things just in case. Will took one of the towels and put it on the floor before setting his camera bag on top of it, with another towel he attempted to dry his hair and frowned when it didn’t do much good and fluffed his hair up so much he looked like a poodle.

“At least all my stuff is dry. Thanks sis” Will smiled up at his sister from the floor and zipped his bag shut again as Sebastian came over.

“Look what the rain dropped in” Seb chuckled as he patted Will on the shoulder with one hand and ruffled his own hair with the other. “You guys okay?” He asked, looking right at his team mate as usual.

“Fine” Seanagh shrugged and looked up at the TV screens above her. “Just waiting for this rain to stop. You?” Seanagh asked as unknowingly to them, Emilio and Lucio stood watching the interaction between the two team mates.

“Just waiting for the rain to stop. Did you four have to bring the British weather with you though?” They all rolled their eyes at Seb’s jibe as Will hurriedly picked up his camera bag.

“Marchionne” He muttered under his breath quietly as Maurizio and the Ferrari CEO appeared at the back of the garage.

“Off you two go” Vanessa muttered as Maurizio made eye contact with his drivers signalling them over.

“Buon pomeriggio Signore” Seanagh nodded at Sergio as he warmly shook Seanagh and Sebastian’s hands. Marchionne stayed talking to Seb and Seanagh for a few minutes before Maurizio led him away again, probably back to the dry shelter of the motorhome. “What a difference a three year contract makes” Seanagh huffed. “He was actually quite nice to me”

“He’s not that bad” Seb shrugged with his arms folded across his chest as he looked out at the front of the garage. “Should we go say hello?” Sebastian looked at his team mate and tilted his head towards the main grandstand.

“Yeah why not” Seb led the way out of the garage and over towards the pit wall where both drivers leaned out of a small gap in the fence and waved at the crowd in the main grandstand that all burst into cheers and applause. “Any news on the weather?” Seanagh asked the few that had decided to brave the elements and stay out on the pit wall, they all shook their heads and pointed to the radar screens that showed nothing but blue.

“Maybe another hour at most, the FIA haven’t even sent out the safety car yet”

“We’ll have enough daylight hours left by then won’t we?” Seanagh asked as Seb joined her side.

“Oh definitely” After a couple minutes of chatting the two engineers insisted that Seanagh and Sebastian head back into the garage to keep warm. They reluctantly agreed and made their way back, with Seb stepping down into the pit lane first with Seanagh right behind him. The two drivers were too busy making a remark about the weather that Seanagh wasn’t paying attention to her footing and felt one of her feet slide along the wet concrete step. She yelped out in fear and squeezed her eyes shut before feeling a pair of arms catch her.

“You okay?” Seanagh opened her eyes and saw Seb’s blue ones casting a worried gaze over her; he had one hand round Seanagh’s middle with the other cradling the back of her head.

“I’m fine” Seanagh blushed and let Seb keep his arms around her as she tentatively stepped down onto the asphalt of the pit lane. “Thanks team mate” She politely smiled at Sebastian as she saw an FOM camera trained on the pair out of the corner of her eye a few feet away, as well as almost every single pair of eyes in the Ferrari garage watching them closely. “Whoops” Seanagh gave a light laugh and a smile for the camera as her and Sebastian made their way back into their own sides of the garage.

 

_Sunday 3 rd September_

Sebastian frowned at his watch as Britta marched him into the motorhome after finally returning from the press pen. He was a good ten minutes late but he hoped that his third place finish would help Maurizio forgive him as he climbed the stairs to his driver room two at a time to grab his notebook and pen before rushing back down the stairs and into the engineers office where every head in the room turned to look at him.

“Sorry I’m late” Seb apologised, in Italian, and sat down in his seat sliding his headset over his ears. He and Seanagh shared a small smile right as the debrief got underway.

As wonderful as another Monza podium had been for Sebastian, a Ferrari 3-4 wasn’t ideal. Especially when Mercedes had almost wiped the floor with the Scuderia in terms of race pace, it hadn’t been the best of showings considering Ferrari had spent almost the whole race weekend celebrating their 70th anniversary. Seb tried to push Lewis’ podium joke of Mercedes power being better than Ferrari power out of his mind when he was reminded of the fact that Seb was no longer leading the driver’s championship.

“Despite what happened you did a good job today” Seanagh smiled hopefully at her team mate as they finally left the post-race debrief after nearly an hour and a half. She placed a hand on his shoulder and kept it there for far longer than necessary.

“Thanks” Seb placed his hand on Seanagh’s as he gently slid it off his shoulder before they turned to go back into the motorhome to head to the airport. With the Asian leg of the season fast approaching they were on different flights as they had a few days with their families scheduled before diving back into simulator runs and meetings.

“I wouldn’t worry about the Mercedes Seb” Seanagh sighed as they climbed the stairs to their driver rooms. “I’m sure we’ll get them in Singapore”


	43. Singapore Sling

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Disastro

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> An awful lot of angst and strong language in here, just to warn you

_Sunday 17 th September – Marina Bay Street Circuit, Singapore_

It had rained before the start. It certainly hadn’t been ideal as it caused a last minute scramble for everyone to decide what tyres they were going to start the race on. Seanagh and Sebastian had both individually agreed with their engineers to go for the intermediate tyres, as they would give them more grip and lower the chances of them having a bad start.

The weather had screwed up the team’s strategy, but it was going to be the same for everyone as Dave reminded Seanagh before she climbed into her car. She had qualified in fourth while Sebastian was on pole. Lewis was in fifth place meaning Sebastian had a good chance of reclaiming the championship lead should the race result go his way. As the formation lap started Seanagh was just silently hoping that nothing eventful was going to happen going into turn one, the last thing she needed was a damaged front wing.

She let out a slow exhale as she pulled her car into its grid spot and waited, her eyes fixed on the lights above the starting line. Seanagh held the clutch pedal firmly and hovered her foot above the accelerator pedal and gave it a gentle squeeze when the first light came on. Then it was two, then three, then four, then five red lights glowing in the dark Singapore sky.

They went out and Seanagh launched off the grid, sweeping past Ricciardo with her eyes set on passing Verstappen to hopefully make it a Ferrari 1-2 coming out of turn three. She had the nose of her car alongside Verstappen’s rear wheel when she felt a heavy hit on her right side. It caused the car to go on a path of its own as she felt her car hit something else, all Seanagh could see was a blur of red and blue as her car skidded and slid down the track, eventually stopping in the run off area at turn one. She quickly glanced in her mirror to see that one of the rear tyres was hanging off by its tethers.

Car completely gone. Race definitely over.

 

Will had completely forgotten to do everything apart from breathe. He held his camera in his hands lifted halfway up towards his face feeling completely frozen to the spot. Seanagh’s Ferrari and Verstappen’s Red Bull lay damaged just a few feet away from Will. Both drivers were fine thankfully, but the start was replaying itself over and over and over in Will’s mind. Sebastian going towards the inside to defend from Verstappen and Seanagh coming up the inside after having her first good start of the year. And then they all collided leaving their races in tatters like the carbon fibre that had shattered upon impact.

“You alright?” One of the photographers asked Will, but he couldn’t respond as his gaze was fixated on the number sixteen Ferrari. “Mate I think he’s in shock” The photographer spoke to one of his colleagues that was directly next to Will on his left. He hummed and looked down at Will and nearly dropped his own camera.

“Shit your Palmer’s brother” He hissed. “You alright?”

“Fuck” Will finally exhaled and lowered his camera with one hand and ran the other across his face, skewing his already messy hair. “That’s championship over isn’t it” Will shook his head muttering under his breath, everyone fell into silence and Will managed to get himself to take a few pictures as the safety car led what was left of the field round for another lap. No one answered Will’s question and after a good few minutes Will managed to calm himself down and focus back on his job, even if for Sebastian and Ferrari it probably was championship over.

 

It didn’t quite hit Seanagh until she was walking back into the pit lane. She couldn’t initially place the red and blue blurs she crashed into until she went through the grid order in her head; Seb, Verstappen, Ricciardo, then her. And Seanagh knew she had passed Daniel, ruling out one blue car, and Seanagh had been driving the other red one.

She felt her stomach fall to her feet as she walked back into the Ferrari garage, helmet still on, her legs working on auto pilot. Everyone in the garage was still, probably with shock. Both Ferrari’s taking each other out at the first corner of a race? That never happened.

“Hospitality. Now” Vanessa hissed quietly under her breath when Seanagh reached her at the back of the garage. She had a hand on Seanagh’s back to lead her driver away but Seanagh was rooted to the spot. Before she could think her hands were undoing the chin strap and pulling off her helmet, HANS device and balaclava, all of which she handed to Vanessa. Seanagh sighed and undid her ponytail letting her dark brown curls fall to her shoulders, she moved strands to either side of her face as she approached Emilio with a frown.

“I’m sorry” Her voice cracked and squeaked as she spoke, causing her number one mechanic and a few others to look at her in astoundment. Emilio said nothing and just patted Seanagh’s arm with a sigh and titled his head towards the back of the garage, silently telling her to leave before the world’s TV crews crowded the garage exit.

Much to Vanessa’s relief Seanagh finally followed her trainer out of the garage and quickly across the paddock and straight into the team hospitality building without anyone noticing. They were all too busy watching the replay of the crash on the TV screens.

 

Sebastian slowly walked back into the Ferrari garage, carefully taking off his helmet as he stopped by Antti who appeared to have been stunned into near-silence.

“Hospitality, Britta needs to talk to you” Antti led Sebastian out of the garage and into the paddock where one or two TV cameras seemed to notice the pair almost jogging into the small white building that was almost silent, the only noise coming from the flat screen TVs that currently showed Lewis leading the race. Sebastian cursed under his breath, but loud enough for his personal trainer to hear him. “Upstairs” The Finn led the way up the narrow stairwell and straight into Sebastian’s driver room, he stood in the doorway to make sure that his driver didn’t have any ideas about going anywhere else.

Stood alone next the massage table was Britta, who was furiously typing into her phone and didn’t look up when Sebastian stood in front of her or when Antti loudly put Sebastian’s things down on the massage table.

“I suggest you have a shower, and take as long as you want to get changed” Britta spoke flatly, with a twinge of annoyance in her voice. “Seanagh is speaking to the press first and myself and Richard have agreed it’s best that you’re both in the pen separately” Sebastian gave a small nod and watched his press officer leave, loudly shutting the door behind her.

“What did you see at the start?” Antti asked partly out of curiosity and partly to shake the elephant in the room as he folded his arms across his chest.

“Um…” Seb paused and chewed on his lower lip. “I was defending the inside line from Max and then… another car hit me” He shrugged and looked at his trainer of some sort of clarification. “Who was it?” Antti pursed his lips together and said nothing, instead choosing to look at his shoes. It left Sebastian to recall the start; he was defending from Max, then there was a sharp whack once, then twice on the left side of his car before two other cars skidded past him. One blue, the other Ferrari red.

Sebastian closed his eyes and crouched down to the floor, burying his head in his hands before cursing loudly for all to hear.

 

The two Ferrari drivers didn’t set eyes on each other until they met outside the stewards office not long after the race had finished. They had been chaperoned by their press officers while Max was already stood alone by the door. The Red Bull driver had his hands stuffed in his pockets while Seanagh and Sebastian stared at each other, neither of them saying a word.

After what felt like an age Charlie Whiting emerged from the small office and called Sebastian in first, leaving the other two drivers to lean against the wall and wait.

“Did you know it was him?” Max asked with a hint of bitterness in his voice. “Did you know it was Seb when you crashed?” Seanagh said nothing and just gave a small shake of the head. The young Dutchman was clearly still pissed about what happened at the start and Seanagh wasn’t in the mood to aggravate him further.

It took a little under ten minutes before Sebastian emerged again with his hands in his pockets. Britta said something to him in German and looked ready to leave as Seanagh was called into the office.

“That was quick” Richard quietly said to Britta, both of whom were counting the minutes until they could go to the airport.

“Almost as quick as your race” Max scoffed loudly.

Sebastian’s head snapped round to look at the Red Bull driver before Britta quickly led Seb away. Seanagh kept her eyes on her team mate for a moment before going inside to tell her side of the story to the stewards.

 

Will didn’t hang around once the podium ceremony had finished. He took the bare minimum number of pictures he needed before stuffing his camera back in his bag and made his way over to the Ferrari hospitality building. He deliberately kept a low profile by taking off his photographer’s vest and having the fabric clenched in his fist as he walked. When he walked inside he was surprised by how few people were milling around Ferrari’s designated building.

“We’re free to go, no debrief” One of Sebastian’s mechanics said to Will as they walked past him.

“Is Seanagh still here?”

“Upstairs” Will nodded in thanks and climbed the stairs and knocked on the door to Seanagh’s driver room before being given the all clear to enter. Seanagh had changed back into her team gear and was sorting through her rucksack while Vanessa stood beside her as Richard typed into his phone.

“Oh good, Will’s here” Vanessa looked at Seanagh and tilted her head towards him as she looked for her younger sibling.

“You ready to go?” Seanagh asked flatly.

“Uh yeah…” Will went over to the corner and retrieved his other bag and slung it over his shoulder after retrieving his green paddock pass. He looked between the other three Brits who obviously weren’t in the mood for conversation as they silently left the small room, Vanessa leading Seanagh while Richard trailed a few feet behind.

“A few of us have been put onto an earlier flight so you’ll have to wait for Jolyon at the airport” Richard whispered to Will as they walked back out into the paddock. Will didn’t say anything and just watched as Vanessa and Seanagh speed away towards the turnstiles. “We’re going straight back to Italy”

“Oh” Will frowned as he let Richard through the turnstile first. “Are they in trouble?” Richard deliberately paused and only replied with a shrug as they walked into the car park and made a bee line for Seanagh’s rental Alfa Romeo.

Seanagh was waiting by the open boot of her car. She let Will carefully fit his bags into the little remaining space before she pulled her brother into a tight hug. It lasted a few minutes before she slammed the boot shut and climbed into the driver’s seat as Will took his seat in the back. As Seanagh made sure everyone was ready to go she started up her car and had to wait for Sebastian, Britta and Antti to quickly walk past before she could drive out of the car park and head back to the hotel where everyone could get changed before heading to the airport.

 

Sebastian knew that he shouldn’t have done it, but as soon as he was in his seat on the plane he looked up the championship standings. Twenty eight points was the gap between Lewis and Sebastian. He frowned as he stuffed his phone back into his pocket, Seb was supposed to be leading the championship again, not be twenty eight points behind. He still didn’t understand how the start had gone so horribly wrong for himself, and his team mate.

“It’s just after five back in Italy” Antti remarked as he changed the time on his watch.

“Right” Seb sighed and went to do the same but his fingers froze above the watch buckle as he suddenly remembered just who had bought the watch that hadn’t left Sebastian’s wrist in months. Seb looked over to the other side of the cabin and saw Seanagh sat in the window seat of the next aisle, Vanessa and Richard were sat next to her almost acting like her body guards. The sound of Antti clearing his throat was enough to make Sebastian take off his watch, change the time, and fasten it back round his wrist with a small sigh as he brushed his thumb across the brown leather strap.

“What a mess” Antti sighed to himself as he checked his phone, Seb assumed his trainer had been bombarded with messages from his friends asking him about the race.

“I’m sorry” Seb frowned as he bit down on his lower lip.

“You might want to say that to Seanagh when we land” Britta huffed as she took her seat next to her driver. Seb said nothing else and looked back towards his team mate again; he didn’t have a clue just what he was going to say to Seanagh when they were back on terra firma.

 

_Monday 18 th September – Bologna Guglielmo Marconi Airport, Italy_

It had just gone half past nine in the morning when Seanagh walked off the plane alongside Vanessa and Richard. In their brief stop in Frankfurt Richard had looked at the back of a few newspapers to see how bad the coverage of the race was. Fucking awful was the exact phrase Richard had used before going to buy himself a double shot espresso.

As they breezed through passport control Seanagh pulled out her phone as they descended the stairs towards baggage reclaim. She had a number of missed calls from both her Mum and Dad, as well as texts from Mia, Jolyon and Will. A part of Seanagh felt incredibly guilty for her sudden radio silence after the race but she had no idea what to say to anyone other than Richard and Vanessa. As she sighed and waited for the carousel to spring into life, Seanagh called one of the people who had tried to check up on her and hoped they were able to answer.

“Hello?”

“Hey Jolyon” Seanagh didn’t say anything about how surprised her cousin had sounded in the hope it would prevent him from commenting on how exhausted Seanagh sounded.

“I didn’t think you’d be calling me, your Mum and Dad are worried sick” Seanagh frowned and closed her eyes, guilt starting to eat away at her again.

“I’m in Italy”

“Shit” Jolyon sounded shocked. “You and Sebastian are getting your knuckles wrapped then”

“Probably” Seanagh huffed as she stared at the static baggage carousel. “What the hell am I supposed to say to them Jo?” Seanagh’s voice cracked as her eyes began to water, her exhaustion due to a pretty sleepless night on the flight out of Singapore making itself evident.

“The team or your parents?”

“Both” Seanagh sniffled as she stuffed her free hand in the front pocket of her hoodie. It was two sizes too large for her; she had to stop herself from realising it was one of Sebastian’s old ones that she’d put in her suitcase without thinking.

“Just be honest… Look I’ve got to go I’m about to go through customs” Jolyon huffed, not sounding too pleased at having to leave his cousin in such a state. “You can call me later, you’ve still got Vanessa and Richard there haven’t you?”

“Yeah” Seanagh sighed, looking at her trainer and press officer that were talking quietly amongst themselves.

“That’s alright then, I’ll speak to you later” Seanagh hummed and went to say goodbye when she finally remembered something.

“Wait” Seanagh spoke suddenly. “Well done on finishing sixth” She heard Jolyon let out a small surprised chuckle.

“Thanks Seanagh, speak to you later”

“Bye” She sighed almost in relief as she slid her phone into the pocket of her jeans. She might have felt only slightly better at speaking to Jolyon, but it was something, and was enough to make Seanagh make a mental note to call home later on in the day.

“Was that Jolyon?” Richard asked as the baggage carousel finally sprang into life.

“Yeah” Seanagh nodded as she bundled the ends of her hoodies sleeves in her hands.

“Now thankfully, Stefania convinced Maurizio to hold off the talk until tomorrow morning” Seanagh just nodded as Richard looked at her with a sympathetic gaze. “So I think we should just have a quiet day at the hotel” Richard cast his eye over Vanessa who simply shrugged.

“Fine with me, maybe we could go out for a quick run later. When it’s quieter” Seanagh said nothing and approached the carousel when she saw her’s, Richard’s and Vanessa’s suitcases appear and went to collect them. With their bags retrieved the trio left the airport and into one of the three waiting taxis that took them towards their usual hotel, where they were greeted with a cheery buongiorno from the receptionist. It was almost as if the disaster of Singapore hadn’t happened, what Seanagh would have given for that to be the case.

 

_Tuesday 19 th September – Maranello_

Maurizio had his head buried in his hands for what felt like hours but it was probably only twenty minutes at most. The majority of yesterday’s papers were sprawled out across his desk, the back pages facing upwards, almost all of them blazoned with the same pictures; Seanagh’s car going into Sebastian’s with sparks and a sandwiched Red Bull the only thing surrounding the two red cars. It was the picture that Maurizio wouldn’t forget for a very long time, probably because he feared that it was the picture that would result in him losing his job. Because as strong as Sebastian’s belief was that he could claw the points back, the sane part of Maurizio’s mind knew that it was an impossible task.

With a long sigh Maurizio gathered the papers together and scrunched them into a large ball that he threw into the rubbish bin next to his desk. He’d already read the articles at least twenty times, he didn’t need to read them again. He frowned as he looked at his watch; it was nearing ten meaning that both drivers had to be at the factory by now. So Maurizio pulled his phone out of his pocket and called Stefi, the conversation lasted far less than a minute and when it was over Maurizio sat down at his desk and clasped his hand together. He couldn’t put off the inevitable conversation any longer.

 

Seanagh silently followed Stefania as her and Sebastian were brought up to Maurizio’s office, nobody said a word to each other as Stefi knocked on the wooden door and opened it wide when Maurizio called through. Neither driver looked at the other as they slowly walked inside and sat down in the chairs that had been placed out for them. Stefania quietly closed the door to Maurizio’s office while Seanagh folded her arms across her chest and Sebastian clasped his hands in his lap, both of them looking at their boss wide eyed.

Maurizio said nothing for a while and frowned at both of his drivers, Seanagh hadn’t read the papers but she’d seen glimpses of them. She knew what mess her and Sebastian had caused.

“Well” Maurizio huffed after a painfully silent couple of minutes. “I won’t talk about what happened in Singapore, I’m sure you have both discussed that privately. What I want to talk about is how we go for-” Maurizio cut himself off when he saw that both Seanagh and Sebastian and gone from looking at him to their shoes, and that they both had very guilty looks on their faces. “Don’t tell me…” The Italian shook his head and said something under his breath angrily in Italian before standing up, wringing his hands together, and storming out of his office. Both Seanagh and Sebastian sighed and stayed sat perfectly still.

“I wonder why he left” Seb spoke softly, almost to himself as he picked at the hem of his jumper.

“I think he wants us to talk Sebastian” Seanagh didn’t look at her team mate but her statement was directed right at him.

“So you’re calling me Sebastian now” He scoffed, trying and failing to sound how upset he sounded.

“Well I am pretty pissed off with you, so I don’t think Seb is quite going to cut it”. Seanagh could pin point the last time her and Sebastian had spoken; it had been on the track right after the Singaporean anthem had finished. As always they had been stood next to each other and as they turned to head back to their cars they wished each other luck, only to take each other out of the race minutes later. That had been roughly two days ago; the longest time they hadn’t spoken since before they became team mates.

The incident that had happened was going to take an awful lot longer to clear up unlike the other two times the pair had accidentally collided. The races in China and Belgium the year before didn’t matter because nothing serious had been on the line then, neither of them were in title contention in 2016. But Sebastian was now.

“Look I’m not going to apologise for having a good start” Seanagh sighed, trying to not speak with such a sharp tone.

“And I’m not going to apologise for defending my line from Max” Sebastian on the other hand was beginning to sound rather annoyed at the whole situation.

“Did you not think that I would try and take the Red Bulls myself?”

“And did you not think that I’d try and defend from them?” Sebastian scoffed as he picked at his fingernails. “It was a racing incident Seanagh, just move on”

“Move on?!” Seanagh exclaimed, finally turning to look at Sebastian with a confused glare. “We can’t just move on from this”

“Why not?”

“Because…” Seanagh paused. “Because if I was just your team mate than I would be fine with us saying that we fucked up and move on” She knew deep down that there were others reasons as to why the crash had made her so upset.

“But you are just my team mate”

“You know I don’t feel like that Sebastian!”

“Well…” Seb frowned and folded his arms with a shrug.

“No. We are not talking about this now. See this is exactly why I wanted to wait!” Seanagh exclaimed and stoop up from her seat, her gaze drifting towards the door.

“What in the off chance we crashed into each other?”

“I hate to break it to you Sebastian but we already have” Seanagh didn’t want to say anything else let alone be in the same room as Sebastian so she upped from her seat and left, not even bothering to look behind her.

 

Fuck.

Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.

Sebastian shook his head as the sound of the slammed door still rang in his ears. He stayed sat down and ran his hands through his hair when he suddenly realised that he probably should have gone after his team mate instead of sitting around sulking. He quietly got up from his seat and left the office and was greeted by Stefania trying to calm down an almost manic looking Maurizio.

“I’ll go find her” Seb spoke quietly walked away with his hands in his pockets. He didn’t have the faintest idea where Seanagh could have gone but he knew he had to find her, to clear the air, to try and work how just how they were going to move on from Singapore.

It didn’t take a genius to see just how hurt she was. And because of that she probably would have went somewhere quiet, somewhere away from the rest of the factory. Seb stopped in his tracks when he saw his and Seanagh’s mechanics walking past in a large group, their slightly oil stained hands meaning they had just came from the assembly bay.

Seb turned on his heels and walked the way the mechanics had just came from, he turned left and right down various corridors before he reached the large room at the very back of the factory. In each pit was the number five and sixteen Ferrari’s, still wearing their battle scars from Singapore. And sat right in-between them, knees pulled tightly into their chest was Seanagh, who Sebastian was fairly certain was sobbing judging by the sniffles that echoed around the large room.

He didn’t say anything as he quietly approached her. Seb stopped when he was a good few feet away and sat down on the floor cross-legged.

“What do you want now?” Seanagh’s voice, cracked and laced with a tinge of bitterness broke the hefty silence.

“To say sorry” Seb looked at her as he spoke, and wasn’t surprised when Seanagh scoffed in response. “I’m sorry for making you feel like this”

“Do you even know how I feel right now Seb?” Hurt, confused, a part of Sebastian was surprised that Seanagh hadn’t slapped him for taking two days to apologise. “I feel like collateral damage right now. My races almost mean nothing at this point because I’m only fighting for fourth in the standings but you… You’re fighting for the championship and if me taking you out result in you losing the title then I’ll never forgive myself” The words rushed out of Seanagh’s mouth as she spoke as more tears fell down her cheeks.

“Why?”

“Because I love you that’s why” Seb didn’t know why hearing those words were a surprise to him, yet they were. Maybe it was because Seanagh looked so hurt when she said them. “Look, I’ll go back to Maurizio’s office with you but after that… I want us to have some space before Malaysia”

“Okay” Seb gave a small nod. It was probably for the best; Seanagh clearly wasn’t in a fit state to properly talk things through with Sebastian. “How long?”

“I don’t know” Seanagh sniffled as she finally stopped crying. “When do you fly out to Malaysia?”

“A week today”

“A week it is then” Seanagh nodded and stood up, brushing the floor dust off her jeans. A week of neither of them texting, calling each other or even face timing. Seb could manage that, probably. “Come on, up you get” Seanagh stood over Sebastian with an outstretched hand, Seb took it and hauled himself up from the floor and took one look into Seanagh’s puffy red eyes before she brushed past him and walked away. As he watched Seanagh leave Antti’s words from the flight back rang through Sebastian’s mind again.

What a mess.

What a mess indeed.


	44. Comfort and Hurt

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> From better, to bad, to worse

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I had planned to combine Malaysia and Japan into one chapter since they were back to back races... but I got far too typing happy and have had to make them into a two parter instead, hope that's alright.

_Wednesday 27 th September – Kuala Lumpur International Airport_

“What time is it?” Will yawned rubbing his eyes as the plane taxied into its arrival gate. Seanagh hummed as she went to look at her watch, but realised she’d forgotten to change it as it still showed the time back in London.

“Seven o’clock” Richard spoke with a small attempt at a smile before pulling his phone out of his pocket and switching it on. “I’ll text Britta, let her know we’ve landed” As the two Ferrari drivers had spent the past week at home, them and their mini entourage were flying into Malaysia separately. Seanagh on a direct flight from London and Sebastian flying in via Singapore, whose flight was due to land at half past nine.

The quartet made their usual path off the plane; into the terminal, through passport control, a far too long wait in baggage reclaim before walking through customs and into the arrivals hall. Unsurprisingly, there was a not so small group of fans waiting by the main entrance. When Seanagh came into view they all cheered causing the driver to stop in bewilderment at the fact they were actually happy to see her.

“Hi everyone!” Richard waved and brightly smiled at the group, the action pulled Seanagh out of her confused daze and she followed her press officer and took pictures with everyone who wanted one, as well as signing the odd cap and Ferrari flag. When Seanagh had to leave she waved and said good bye as choruses of ‘good luck’ rang around the large hall, it managed to put a small smile on her face. The fact that the fans had treated her just as they always did, like they’d either forgotten about what happened in Singapore entirely or they had simply gotten over it.

Despite it being early in the morning the weather in Kuala Lumpur was still warm and humid as everyone walked out of the terminal and into the pre-arranged car that drove them to their hotel. By the time they had arrived and fully checked in Richard’s phone buzzed with a text from Britta saying their flight had landed ten minutes early.

“It’ll be a little while before they get here. I’m sure Sebastian will want to be settled in first before you two talk” Vanessa said as she led everyone over to one of the lifts and pressed the buttons for their floors when the doors opened. Vanessa, Britta, Richard and Antti had all been in contact the past week Seanagh and Sebastian hadn’t, and with a little bit of input from their drivers it had been agreed that Seanagh and Seanagh were finally going to talk about Singapore. Considering they were set to be in the drivers press conference the next day alongside Verstappen everyone was in agreement that the Ferrari drivers had to at least be able to look at each other.

With a sigh Seanagh trudged along the corridor alongside her brother and opened the door to the twin room that they would be sharing for the weekend.

“I’d say it’s a shame Ferrari got the booking wrong… but you look like you could use the company” Will frowned and shook his head as Seanagh put her suitcase in the corner of the room and sat on the edge of her bed with her head in her hands. She wasn’t looking forward to her conversation with Sebastian, at all.

 

Seb sighed as he checked at his phone again. Waiting and waiting for the time on the screen to show eleven am. He, Britta and Antti had all arrived at the hotel roughly an hour ago but apparently it was best that Sebastian ‘settle in’ before having the dreaded conversation with his team mate. So he had briefly gone down to the hotel gym and went back to his room for a shower but that only took up forty minutes. Seb had tried to watch some TV but nothing really appealed to him so he ended up in the balcony of his room taking the time to think about what he was going to say.

A couple of moments later Seb’s phone buzzed and a message from Britta speared on the screen.

_You can come over now_

The two team mates were going to talk in Britta’s room, not only was it deemed neutral territory but it also would make more sense to any passers-by if one of the drivers was seen waiting outside a press officers room rather than their team mates’.

Seb sighed as he stuffed his phone in his pocket, picked up his keycard and left, taking the stairs up to Britta’s floor since she was only the floor above him. He found his press officer’s room and knocked heavily on the door three times, with Britta opening the door almost instantly. She stepped aside and Sebastian walked in, the first thing he saw was Seanagh stood near the bed with her arms folded across her chest.

“We’ll be in the bar if you need us, please don’t trash the place” Sebastian wanted to make a joke about him and Seanagh being nowhere bad as Nico and Lewis but thought better of it when he saw the heavy frown on Britta’s face as she left.

“Why are they waiting in the bar?” Seb asked out loud instead of to himself.

“Probably to get their much deserved bottle of wine” Seanagh spoke flatly, briefly looking down at her shoes. “Hi” Sebastian could swear that Seanagh had tried to smile, but either failed or fought the urge, she had spoken the small greeting every so softly and with a slight tilt of the head. Hearing it made Sebastian want to cross the floor and hug her but considering her arms were still folded he decided not to and kept the distance between them.

“Hi” Seb just gave her a small smile and also glanced briefly at the carpet.

“You okay?” Seanagh asked quietly, her voice laced with concern. Seb didn’t really know how he felt so he just shrugged and watched as Seanagh sat on the floor at the foot of Britta’s bed. She looked up at Sebastian and patted the space next to her as she pulled her legs up and wrapped her arms around her shins. “We have to start talking about it at some point” Seb sighed and sat opposite his team mate rather than beside her, maintaining a respectful gap between them.

They started off by taking turns in talking through what happened at the start, what they did, what they saw… and the end result. It was clear that Seanagh had decided it had been a racing incident, but for whatever reason couldn’t bring herself to say it.

“It was my fault” Seb said suddenly. “I didn’t have a good start so I felt I had to defend my place more and…” He trailed off and shuffled forward, burying his head in Seanagh’s knees. Seb squeezed his eyes tightly shut in case he started to cry. “I don’t want to hurt you” He said fighting a crack in his throat. “I’ve done that enough already” Sebastian still hadn’t forgotten how distraught Seanagh had been at the factory when he’d last seen her, he hated how red her eyes had been from crying and he hated the mess they had both put themselves in.

The feeling of Seanagh pressing a kiss into the top of Sebastian’s head pulled him right back into the present as she rested her cheek against his hair. They stayed like that for a while, with neither of them saying anything as one of their hands finally found the other and held onto it tightly.

The past week had been tougher than Seb realised. Every other day he’d find himself reach for his phone, wanting to text Seanagh to ask how her day was, only to realise that he couldn’t because she was the one who wanted the time apart and Seb promised himself that he’d respect that. And he didn’t know it but Seanagh had felt the exact same way.

“I’m sorry” Sebastian finally found the courage to speak and gently moved his head, causing Seanagh to move so Seb could sit upright once again. “I’m so, so sorry” He looked right into her eyes as he spoke and didn’t even think about letting go of her hand.

“I’m sorry too” Seanagh let out a shaky breath and gave Seb’s hand a gentle squeeze. “I really missed you” Hearing those words was enough for Sebastian to stand up and pull Seanagh up with him as he wrapped his arms tightly around her. They both sighed quietly as they found themselves back in each other’s arms, only just loud enough for the other to hear.

“I really missed you too darling”

Never again, Seb and Seanagh both thought to themselves. Never were they going to let a repeat of Singapore happen ever, ever again.

 

_Saturday 30 th September – Sepang International Circuit_

Thankfully for Ferrari, the past two days had been almost smooth sailing. The driver’s press conference on Thursday had gone surprisingly well and both of Friday’s free practice sessions went without a hitch. The team’s quiet weekend was more than welcomed by everyone after the events of Singapore, especially when Seanagh and Sebastian were first and second after third practice.

Seanagh was genuinely smiling as she clambered out of her car and walked straight over to Dave, both were happy with the set up they had chosen for qualifying and the race so there wasn’t much else to be done other than the usual short debrief.

“Dave what’s the matter?” Seanagh asked her race engineer with a confused frown. Her fellow Brit had a slightly concerned look in his eyes, and he had glanced back at Emilio and Lucio more than once while Seanagh had been talking about downforce levels in great detail. “What’s going on?”

“Seb had a power unit issue about forty five minutes in, it doesn’t look good”

“Shit” Seanagh sighed with her hands on her hips as she took a few steps towards the back of the garage, moving far enough along that she could see what was going on with Seb’s car without getting in anyone’s way. She took one look at the scene of Sebastian’s mechanics bustling around and shaking their heads before turning to face her own chief mechanic. “If Seb needs an engine change then take as many of the lads over as you need” Emilio said nothing and nodded, folding his arms across his chest as he and the rest of Seanagh’s mechanics watched and waited in case they needed to spring into action.

“Are we done?” Vanessa finally came over with Seanagh’s cooling vest and water bottle. Malaysia’s heat and humidity doing nothing to ease the horrible tense feeling in the garage.

“Yeah we’re done” Dave just nodded and went through the last few bits of data before heading off for his quick lunch break.

“You need some food too, come on” Vanessa gestured towards the back of the garage with a tilt of the head and she led Seanagh away back towards hospitality.

When they arrived Will and Richard were already sitting down eating while Seb was sat with Antti a few tables away. Seanagh shook her head when she saw her team mate, the stressed and slightly worried look on his face all too easy to see.

Ferrari’s race weekend had been going so well. Apparently, almost too well.

 

Right towards the end of Seb’s warm up in lap in qualifying the engine made a strange noise and suddenly Seb lost a lot of power. Again. He coasted his car back into the pits with only ten minutes of Q1 left, nowhere near enough time for the team to fix whatever problem had occurred.

“I’m sorry” Sebastian shook his head as he looked at Riccardo. The team had hoped that fitting a slightly older engine would fix the problem from FP3. Apparently not it seemed.

“It’s not your fault Seb” His race engineer, frowned, shrugged and patted his driver on the shoulder. After a similar interaction with all of his mechanics Seb followed Britta towards the garage exit when he stopped and veered over to Seanagh’s side, making a beeline for Emilio.

“Thank you for helping out earlier”

“Not a problem Seb, I know your side would do the same for Seanagh so… no need to thank us”

“Well I appreciate it. I’ll be back as quick as I can” The two men nodded as Sebastian turned on his heels and briskly walked out of the garage with Britta. Seb almost ran into the team hospitality building, got changed out of his overalls and back into his team gear before jogging down the stairs and following Britta into the press pen.

Seb tried his best to not be too brief with his answers, even if he had no idea just what had happened with his car. As he moved from journalist to journalist his briefly looked over his shoulder to check the TV screen that was placed on the far side of the pen, trying to get a look at the final Q1 times. He was done by the end of Q2 and he jogged back over to the Ferrari garage and found a spare radio headset next to Antonio.

“Please tell me she made it” Seb asked, feeling slightly breathless at running nearly the full distance of the paddock as he looked over at Seanagh’s car.

“Yeah, in P2” Sebastian sighed with relief at the confirmation from the young reserve driver as he kept on looking at the number sixteen Ferrari. He could just about see Seanagh still in the cockpit; her eyes focused on the small TV screen perched in front of here.

“You forgot something” Antti lightly tapping Seb on the shoulder with his drinks bottle took his focus off his team mate’s car. Come to think of it Sebastian was starting to feel a little bit lightheaded after his rush to get his interviews done as quickly as possible. Seb gladly accepted his drinks bottle and took a long sip through the plastic straw and instantly felt a little bit better.

“Thanks” He smiled at his trainer as Seanagh speeding her car out of the garage signalled the start of Q3. Seb could feel everyone in the garage drawing in a nervous breath as the light at the end of the pit lane went green. The only bit of hope the team had to go on was that Seanagh’s car was fast and still working, for the moment at least.

Seb didn’t take his eyes off the overhead TV screen even for a second. He watched the FOM feed like a hawk, hoping and almost praying that Seanagh would get a good result. Ironically with Sebastian being out of contention she did have a better chance of securing a spot on the front row.

The closing minutes came and with it everyone’s second and final runs. Seanagh was going to be the last car to set a time, her banker lap currently had her in second, a tenth or so off Lewis’ time. She went green in sector one. But so did Lewis so Sebastian tried to not get too worked up about it. Then Seanagh went green in sector two. Lewis hadn’t done that, and everyone in the garage knew that.

“Come on darling” Sebastian muttered ever so quietly under his breath, he didn’t care if anyone overheard him; he was far more concerned about Seanagh getting pole position above anything else. Because if she had a good result and was happy about it then maybe Sebastian wouldn’t feel so bad about his engine dilemma.

Just about the whole Ferrari garage held their breath as Seanagh came onto the long back straight. Her time looked good, but it was going to be far too close between her and Lewis. Then Seanagh’s car twitched ever so slightly, the tiniest of tiny mistakes as she powered out of the last corner and crossed the finish line. She had managed to improve her time, but Seanagh had lost out on pole by three hundredths of a second.

Sebastian couldn’t believe it. He kept looking at the screen above him, before glancing over at the one that was right in front of Antonio. Unfortunately they both showed the exact same finishing order.

“Fuck” Seb didn’t want to take his eyes of the screen, but he knew that no matter how long he looked the result wouldn’t change. Hamilton P1, S. Palmer P2. Seb didn’t care about the rest. He puffed out his cheeks and huffed before almost scowling at the FOM feed before finally taking his headset off after the first post-qualifying interviews. He looked up as he heard Antonio curse under his breath in Italian with a strong shake of the head; he looked as desolate as Sebastian felt.

“A tiny bit of oversteer, if that didn’t happen then…” Antonio didn’t finish his sentence but Seb knew what he meant. If Seanagh’s car hadn’t had its miniscule moment then she would have been on pole, and if Sebastian’s car hadn’t broken down then he probably would have been right up there with her.

 

_Sunday 1 st October_

Will let out a long sigh as he eased his camera bag onto the ground before wiping the sweat off his brow. While he was going to miss the racing at Malaysia but he certainly wasn’t going to miss the heat and humidity. He had a second bag with him that was almost filled with bottles of water so he wouldn’t end up dehydrated during the race. Will reached into the bag and pulled out a bottle and twisted the cap open before downing almost half of its contents in one gulp.

As Will put the bottle back in his bag he looked at his watch, the pit lane had just opened and Will could already hear the sound of engines in the distance. He had placed himself at the second to last corner where he had a perfect view of the long back straight and pit lane entry to his left and the end of the second sector to his right.

He yawned as he waited for the cars to start coming round the track for their install laps on the way to the grid. A few cars trickled through in the first five minutes before the rest of the field passed by Will one after the other. He couldn’t help but smile when he saw his sister’s Ferrari, but as he watched it going down the back straight he couldn’t help but notice that her car really didn’t sound right.

Will frowned, and hoped that it was nothing serious and carried on with taking pictures of the now empty circuit to distract himself from the worry that had firmly planted itself in the back of Will’s mind.

 

“Something’s wrong” Seanagh practically ripped her helmet off her head after she got out of the car. Dave was stood to the side of Seanagh’s second place grid spot looking concerned. “I don’t know what but, the acceleration just didn’t feel right”

“Out of which corner?” Dave asked flatly.

“Every corner” Seanagh replied shakily. She pursed her lips together and gripped onto her helmet tightly. “And going down the back straight… it felt like I’d lost power”

“Right” Dave hurriedly started making notes while Seanagh’s mechanics tended to her car as normal.

“What’s the problem?” Vanessa came over wielding an umbrella and Seanagh’s drinks bottle. In the welcome shade Seanagh moved to the side of the track and put her helmet down on the towel Vanessa had laid out for her before accepting her drinks bottle and taking a long sip.

“I don’t know… but it’s not good” Seanagh sighed as Dave and Emilio reluctantly ordered the rest of Seanagh’s mechanics to remove the engine cover of her car.

The minutes that passed felt like hours as Seanagh’s mechanics furiously looked at all the parts they could to try and figure out what the problem was. Seanagh’s data engineer Carlo had even came onto the grid from the garage in an effort to help in any way that he could. It left Seanagh and Vanessa sat against the wall separating the circuit from the pit lane watching the scene play out in front of them under the shade of their team umbrella. They were both stunned into silence as Seanagh could feel her front row start slipping away second by second before one shake of the head from Dave caused Seanagh’s mechanics to put her car up on its jacks to wheel it back into the pit lane.

“No” The word only just escaped Seanagh’s lips in a quiet whimper as she watched her beloved Ferrari get wheeled away. Seanagh and Vanessa both stood up instantly, bundling together Seanagh’s gear before jogging back over towards the Ferrari garage where they passed a far from impressed looking Maurizio.

Seanagh and Vanessa walked in through Seb’s side of the garage, giving Seanagh’s mechanics all the space they needed while the two women watched and waited with baited breath to see if Seanagh would even be able to make the race start.

Seanagh could almost feel tears prick at her eyes as she watched her mechanics and engineers frantically look around the engine to try and see what exactly the issue was. Seanagh bit down on her bottom lip to stop it from trembling as that morning’s strategy meeting played back in her memory; she was supposed to get Lewis at the start, to make his race difficult and put him under threat to the Red Bulls to try and minimise the damage he was going to do to Sebastian in the drivers’ standings. As well as try to take the win for herself to try and save Ferrari’s grace after Singapore.

She wasn’t supposed to be in the garage wondering if she’d make the start, her car wasn’t supposed to be broken. Surely Sebastian’s qualifying issue had reached Ferrari’s bad luck quota.

Seanagh watched as Emilio, Carlo and Dave all stood in a huddle and shook their heads before glancing over at Seanagh at the exact same time. Dave was the one who came over to his desolate looking driver and placed a hand on her shoulder.

“I’m sorry Seanagh” Dave briefly paused as Seanagh closed her eyes and let out a shaky sigh. “The battery’s gone. We can’t race, I’m sorry” The race engineer repeated before dropping his arm back to his side as Vanessa took his place.

“I’ll go get Richard, you stay here” Vanessa squeezed Seanagh’s shoulder before hurrying off towards hospitality. Seanagh sighed as she went over to her mechanics and apologised, saying that it wasn’t their fault and there was nothing any one of them could have done, every single one of them returned the sentiment.

“Woah what’s going on?” The sound of Sebastian walking back through the garage after his last comfort break broke the hefty silence in the garage. He walked over to his team mate, whose eyes were now brimming with tears, and looked at Seanagh’s car almost in shock. “Why aren’t you on the grid, the anthem is in a few minutes” Seanagh took in a shaky breath and shrugged before shaking her head.

“My battery’s gone; I’m not starting the race”

“Shit” Sebastian hissed right as Vanessa and Richard returned to take Seanagh out of the garage and Antti appeared to walk Sebastian back towards the grid. Seanagh and Seb both went to leave when Seanagh stopped and placed a hand on her team mate’s arm, she looked right into Seb’s eyes and hoped that her failure meant Seb was going to have a good race even if he was starting from last.

“Give them hell today Seb” They had already wished each other luck after the driver’s parade so in Seanagh’s mind it didn’t make sense to say the same thing twice when now all she wanted to see was her team mate have a good race. Seanagh huffed as she turned and walked out of the garage, happily taking her sunglasses from Richard’s hand.

“I think we can wait until the first few laps have passed before you go see the press” Richard had one hand on Seanagh’s shoulder as he spoke to her, she couldn’t have been more grateful that he knew Seanagh wanted to see the start of the race. “If you’re fast enough we might get to see the formation lap”.

Seanagh did just that and was back in the garage with her headset over her ears right as the cars pulled away, she ended up being stood next to Antonio and tried to not look at the empty grid slot on the front row and instead focused solely on Sebastian as the grid re-formed for the start.

“Come on schatzi” She muttered under her breath as she watched the five red lights go out and the field launch away. Seanagh eventually found herself smiling when Seb took three places in the first few corners and probably would have went as far to say that she was quite proud of him as he passed car after car on the opening lap.

The race was long and gruelling for everyone and finally ended with Verstappen winning, Hamilton in second and Ricciardo third with Sebastian pulling the drive of the season to finish in fourth. Seanagh tried not to think about how Mercedes didn’t have a lot of race pace and how she might even have won herself if her battery hadn’t failed. So instead she smiled and congratulated Seb’s side of the garage on a race well done, even if Seb did have the most bizarre crash with Mia on the cool down lap. Seanagh shook her head and took off her radio headset as Antti came over to speak to her.

“Well done” Seanagh tried a small smile as the Finn gave Seanagh a friendly hug and a sympathetic pat on the shoulder. “At least Seb had a great race” Antti just shrugged and nodded, looking incredibly relieved.

“What was wrong with your car? I didn’t hear anything”

“Battery failure” Seanagh frowned as she stuffed her hands in her pockets.

“Well hopefully they fix it for Japan… gotta go” Antti darted off as Sebastian returned to the pit lane after hitching a lift from Pascal Wehrlein. Seanagh scratched the back of her neck as she left the garage, she hoped that Antti was right and the team would have everything sorted in Japan, because surely the team had gone through enough bad luck to last them the rest of the season.


	45. Hurt and Comfort

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The fairy tale comes shattering down

_Thursday 5 th October – Suzuka International Circuit_

Vanessa yawned as she walked into hospitality and made a mental note to grab herself an espresso after she’d dumped her bag in Seanagh’s room. She’d walked in with Will, who had the same idea, and went to save them a table while Vanessa got their coffees.

“Morning Antti” Vanessa yawned again as she stood behind the Finn who was also making use of the team’s coffee machine.

“Morning” Once Antti was happy with his drink he stepped to the side and allowed Vanessa to make her espressos. “How’s it going?” Vanessa hummed at her colleague and rubbed her brow.

“Well I’ve had to look after a mopey driver all week” While Vanessa and Seanagh were incredibly good friends, it was always tough for Vanessa being her personal trainer. A lot of the time she’d have to look after her driver mentally as well as physically. “Malaysia got to her worse then what she’s letting on” Vanessa sighed as she put her second paper cup in the machine and made another drink. “How about you?” Vanessa asked, Antti just shrugged and stuffed one of his hands into his pockets.

“Alright I guess, Seb’s in a surprisingly positive mood so that helps” Antti waited for Vanessa to pick up her drinks before walking with her back through to the main hospitality area. “The sooner this weekend is over the better if you ask me. I don’t think the team could take another bad race” Vanessa just hummed in agreement as Will came over to collect his espresso before dashing off into the paddock.

“I couldn’t agree more” The two trainers sat down at the table Will had been sat at and both let out long drawn out sighs.

“You really look like you need that” Antti gestured towards Vanessa’s espresso with a sympathetic smile.

“Yeah well… because Seanagh’s race in Malaysia wasn’t bad enough the press won’t stop going on about Jolyon losing his seat and-”

“That’s not actually happening is it?”

“Apparently” Antti’s smile disappeared and he shook his head with a frown. “Seanagh’s been trying to ignore it so I don’t know the ins and outs, but Red Bull still want to play musical chairs with their drivers it seems” Vanessa huffed and sank a little further into her chair. “Honestly I can’t wait for the season to be over” Antti hummed in agreement before looking around the room.

“Where is Seanagh anyway?”

“Jenson’s here and we ran into him when we arrived, they wanted a quick catch up so me and Will just left them to it”

“Fair enough” Sebastian suddenly appeared out of nowhere grabbing their attention; he had a rather concerned expression on his face as he approached Vanessa and Antti’s table.

“Morning” Seb gave the two trainers a faint smile. Vanessa chorused back while Antti pulled Seb out a chair, which the German driver practically flopped down into as he ran a hand across his face.

“What’s wrong?” Antti asked, he too looking quite concerned.

“I just spoke to Jolyon” Seb’s brow had furrowed together as she shook his head. “That thing you told me about” He looked straight at Vanessa who now had another thing to worry about.

“Don’t tell me” Vanessa sunk down in her chair even further and began to wonder what if anything was going to go right over the next few days.

“It’s happening; this is going to be his last race”

“That’s all she needs” Vanessa scoffed and wanted to bury her head in her hands but she figured that it wasn’t the right time, or the place.

“You know she’ll need to hear it from Jolyon right?” Antti asked looking at his driver.

“Yeah, yeah I know” Seb frowned and started picking under his finger nails. “She’s going to take it badly either way” With another sigh long sigh from Sebastian Vanessa and Antti shared a look and silently made the decision to change the subject when Britta, Seanagh and Richard finally walked in from the paddock.

“Don’t worry” Richard already had his hands up in surrender as he approached the table. “You both have nothing planned with the press for the next hour”

“Good” Seanagh sighed as she took the last seat opposite Sebastian while Richard and Britta both pulled up a chair and found a space. “You okay team mate?” Seanagh looked at Sebastian with the faintest of smiles. Seb looked up at Seanagh and nodded before briefly smiling in return, the look of him knowing something Seanagh didn’t plain to see in his worried eyes.

“How about some more coffee then?” Antti looked around his colleagues who all nodded in agreement, with Richard offering to help him carry everyone’s drinks.

“So what was Jenson saying?” Britta asked Seanagh out of genuine curiosity.

“Nothing much, we were just catching up really” Seanagh shrugged as she slid her softshell jacket off her shoulders. “He did say that he didn’t want us having any more problems though” Vanessa and Britta hummed in agreement while Seb started picking at his fingernails again. “Seb” Seanagh spoke sternly looking right at her team mate. “Are you sure you’re okay?” Vanessa pursed her lips together as Sebastian stayed quiet for a few moments before replying that he was completely fine and just needed an espresso. With a quiet sigh Vanessa slyly pulled her phone from her pocket and texted Britta, saying she’d explain to her what was going on when Seanagh wasn’t around to hear.

Thankfully Richard and Antti returned with a small tray of espressos, both of them laughing over something that Maurizio had just said to them in passing. Vanessa was grateful for the brief moment of light-heartedness between the six of them, as it was about the only thing keeping them sane during what Richard had now dubbed ‘the Asian leg of the season from hell’.

 

_Saturday 7 th October – Driver’s Hotel_

“I always forget how sad this ending is” Seanagh sniffled as she wiped away the tears falling down her cheeks while Seb softly kissed the top of her head and rubbed up and down her arm. It was getting late and nearing the time they should have been going to bed, but after a sub-par qualifying session Seanagh ended up going to Sebastian’s room where they watched Life Is Beautiful – Seb’s favourite film – curled up in each other’s arms. “Why is this your favourite film again?” Seanagh asked, still tucked into Sebastian’s side.

“Because it makes me appreciate what I have” Seb replied with a small smile and kissed the top of Seanagh’s head again. “I love you”

“I love you too” Seanagh wrapped her arm around Sebastian’s middle and snuggled even closer into him. Seb said nothing and rested his chain against the top of her head while he glanced down at his watch.

“When are you going to see Jolyon again?” Seb asked flatly, trying to cover up the fact that he knew Jolyon was going to tell Seanagh that he’d been dropped by Renault and she was going to be left feeling even worse then what she did now.

“In about five minutes” Seanagh sighed as she looked at Seb’s watch. “I should probably get going I’m meeting Will first” She pushed herself up from the bed with a frown. “At his room, don’t worry we’re not getting caught” Seanagh huffed as she properly stood up from the bed and ran her hands across her face.

“What’s the matter?” Seb asked, sitting up and crossing his legs. Seanagh sighed and stuffed her hands in the pockets of her jeans before replying.

“Jo just said me that what he has to tell me is important… that’s all” Seanagh shrugged before picking up her phone and keycard from the bedside table. “I’ll see you tomorrow” The two team mates had agreed to have breakfast together before the race, Seb felt bad agreeing when he knew that Seanagh was going to end up cancelling anyway. It had been hard keeping Jolyon’s secret since Thursday, especially when some of the British press wouldn’t stop speculating about it. But Antti had been right, Seanagh needed to hear it directly from Jolyon, it was the best way.

“Wait” Sebastian quickly jumped off the bed when he realised he hadn’t said goodnight or even bye. Seanagh stopped just as she reached out for the door handle and watched as Sebastian quickly crossed the distance between them. Seb cupped Seanagh’s face in his hands before leaning down for a long, soft, lingering kiss. “Night darling”

“Goodnight Seb” Seanagh managed a small smile as she left Sebastian’s room with the do not disturb sign still hanging on the other side.

Sebastian ran his hands across his face as he made his way back over to the bed where he lay down flat and looked up at the ceiling, hoping that by this point the weekend couldn’t possibly get any worse.

 

_Sunday 8 th October_

Despite it being race day, Ferrari’s hospitality building was surprisingly subdued. Sebastian knocked on the door to Seanagh’s room and silently let himself in, closing the door behind him just as quietly. He stayed stood by it, seeing Seanagh sat on her massage table looking down at her hands that were clasped in her lap.

“I um… I heard about Jolyon” Seb sighed, suddenly feeling incredibly guilty even though none of the Renault-Jolyon-Carlos drama was his fault, and even more guilty that he has to pretend that he had just found out about the whole thing. Seanagh just sniffled and finally looked up at Sebastian, her eyes were red and looked slightly puffy. “Oh darling…” He crossed over towards her and took her clasped hands in his and kissed them, running both his thumbs across the back of her hands. Seb said nothing and just shook his head because he really didn’t know what to say.

Seanagh and Jolyon had always been close, almost always stood on the driver’s parade together, sometimes even arriving in the paddock side by side. Seb would always see them at the hotel laughing over breakfast almost every single morning. Some people joked that instead of cousins they were more like brother and sister and it wasn’t hard to see why.

“I’m really sorry” Sebastian finally said, sounding the most sincere he had done all weekend.

“It’s not your fault Seb” Seanagh gave him a small smile and sniffled again. Seb moved to Seanagh’s side and jumped up onto the massage table so he was sat beside her. He wrapped an arm round her shoulders and said nothing when she nestled her head into the crook of his neck. “The thing is, I told Jo that I’d be with him now before the race since Will is trackside. As soon as he told me I went to Maurizio to okay it and he just said no” Sebastian raised an eyebrow and didn’t say anything. “It wouldn’t look good to Sergio if I wandered over to Renault of my own free will apparently”

“But he’s your family” Seb spoke matter-of-factly with a frown. “That’s bullshit, Maurizio would understand surely-”

“Yeah but Serio doesn’t and what he says goes, remember?” Seanagh raised her voice before moving a few inches away from Sebastian and buried her head in her hands. “Jo’s been texting me the past few minutes I asking where I am, we agreed to walk to the garages together and I _promised_ and-”

“And you don’t break your promises” Seb jumped down off the massage table and went to move Seanagh off it too.

“What-”

“We’re going to the garage early”

“But my things” Seanagh turned and looked at her helmet, HANS device and radio in-ears sat in a perfect row on the table against the opposite wall.

“Richard or Vanessa can get your things” Seb opened the door and placed a hand on Seanagh’s back encouraging her out of the room. “Your family is much more important” Seb and Seanagh quickly went down the stairs and opened the doors marching into the paddock. Instead of turning left to head over to the garage they turned right where Renault was just a few buildings down. “Go, I’ll see you in the garage”. Seb watched as Seanagh quickly ran into the Renault hospitality building where he could just see Jolyon through the windows walking down the stairs.

Feeling that his job was done Seb turned and slowly walked back to Ferrari to pick up his things to actually go to the garage, and to explain to Vanessa where her driver had just vanished to. Seb looked over his shoulder at the sound of laughter and saw Seanagh, Jolyon, and his Dad Johnathan all walking arm in arm towards the Renault garage. Seb smiled at the sight, considering it was probably going to be Jolyon’s last ever F1 race they all looked happy as they arrived at the entrance to the Renault garage where they all hugged Seanagh goodbye. Seb made a mental note to speak to Jolyon on the grid and wish him luck, he had been surprisingly nice to Seb over the past season and a half, and it was about time he returned the gesture.

 

Antti sighed, trying to keep the expression on his face as neutral as possible as Sebastian spoke to Riccardo for the third time in five minutes. Apparently something hadn’t felt right with Seb’s car on the way to the grid, and considering how anxious Sebastian and his race engineer looked, plus the fact that the rest of Sebastian’s mechanics had already lifted the engine cover to investigate clearly suggested that something was definitely wrong with Sebastian’s car. Antti waited for Riccardo to be a good few feet away before looking at his driver, and waited again before Sebastian had taken a long sip from his drinks bottle before talking to him.

“Well?” Antti made sure to sound as cautious as possible when he asked. Seb said nothing and wiped at his face with the towel that was hanging around his neck.

“It’s not good. There’s a chance we might not even make the start” Antti bit down on his bottom lip to stop himself from cursing and instead gripped into the team umbrella he was holding even tighter.

“It’ll be what it’ll be Seb” It was a few minutes that Antti remembered that he was supposed to be the positive one when his driver’s race looked like it was going south. Seb said nothing and just shrugged in acknowledgement before rushing up the grid for the national anthem. When he was gone Antti and Riccardo just looked at each other, with the race engineer shaking his head with a frown.

“It’s the spark plug, he might make the start but after that… who knows”

 

Mark sighed as he shook his head and sank even further into the sofa. The sight of Sebastian’s car being pushed into the garage wasn’t the easiest to watch by any means. It was a second non-finish for Sebastian in three races; Mark knew his chances at winning the driver’s championship were now the slimmest they had ever been.

He heard quiet footsteps enter the living room forcing Mark to tear his eyes away from the TV. Mary stood in the doorway fixing her navy scarf around her neck before she left for her shift.

“Well, how’s it going?” Mary asked looking hopeful, Mark just huffed and shook his head again.

“Sebastian’s out of the race, spark plug failure apparently”

“Oh no” Mary’s face fell and she looked at the TV in disbelief. “What a shame… poor thing. Look” Mary pointed to the TV, which showed a desolate looking Ferrari garage. Sebastian was already out of the car and was shaking hands with all of his mechanics.

“He didn’t deserve his championship to end like that” Mary hummed in agreement and briefly looked down at her watch.

“I need to go; I can’t keep an eye on the race to let me know how Seanagh and Jolyon get on”

“Will do love, have a nice day”

“I’ll try” Mark kissed Mary goodbye before she rushed out the door; he slowly turned and went back into the living room and sat on the sofa. He was still going to watch the race so see where his daughter and nephew where going to finish, even if for some bizarre reason Sebastian’s non-finish left Mark feeling incredibly glum.

 

Fifth place. Considering Seanagh had started in tenth after a gearbox penalty, maybe it wasn’t so bad. It certainly wasn’t as bad as Sebastian’s race. He had only managed just four laps before it very quickly became clear that Sebastian’s engine was well and truly broken beyond repair.

Vanessa had given Seanagh the liberty of allowing Seanagh as much time as she wanted to quickly shower and change back into her team gear before Richard was due to take her to the press pen. Richard was waiting for her at the bottom of the stairs, anxiously looking at his watch waiting for his driver, Poor Britta had ended up in hot water with the press and Richard really wasn’t in the mood for the same thing to happen to him.

Eventually Seanagh arrived and had a smile fixed into place, only for it to fall when she very quickly noticed Vanessa sat in the corner of the room, consoling a very upset Britta.

“Hey what happened?” Seanagh rushed over to the table and sat down. She placed a hand on Britta’s back and spoke softly, her face and eyes filled with worry about her colleague.

“Seb left early” Britta paused to clear her throat. “And I went to tell the press and… they didn’t take it very well” Britta’s voice cracked before she buried her head in her hands again. It was then that Stefania appeared with a steaming cup of tea.

“One or two journalists decided to take their anger at not getting to interview Seb out on Britta” Vanessa replied angrily, she looked as if she was both ready and willing to give those certain journalists a piece of her mind. Richard looked over at Seanagh and her eyes seemed to fill with anger; she looked from Britta to Richard and stood up from her seat still keeping a hand on Britta’s back.

“Come on Rich” And she marched off, Richard had to jog a few paces top catch up with her and given how Seanagh’s jaw had clenched, he felt just a little bit terrified at what would happen when Seanagh would be face to face with the press in the media pen. “I bet it was him from the Daily Mail… what’s his name again?”

“Seanagh…” Richard muttered to her under his breath and placed a hand on her arm. The last thing Ferrari needed was Seanagh causing a scene for every single journalist in the paddock to see.

“Oh come on! He’s from Stevenage just like Lewis, and well, we all know that when it comes to the non-Brits he has about as much impartiality as a wet sock” Richard didn’t say anything in response and was very relieved when Seanagh slowed as they arrived at the press pen allowing Richard to lead her around all of the journalists. Thankfully they had all decided to word their questions about Ferrari’s reliability very carefully, and seemed to be going easy with their questions. Richard finally guided Seanagh from Will Buxton; to the Daily Mail journalist that Richard was fairly certain had been to the one to upset Britta.

“Not the race you wanted then?” He held his dictaphone out so it was almost under Seanagh’s nose.

“No not really” Seanagh replied bluntly and left the quickest of pauses. “It could have gone an awful lot better, but that’s just how racing goes sometimes. We’ll come back fighting for the next one” She answered with what looked like a smile this time. Richard was glad that this would be Seanagh’s last interview and that the journalist had planted himself right by the media pen entrance.

“Such a shame that your team mate had to conduct himself the way he did after he retired”

“Excuse me?” Seanagh raised her eyebrows; Richard could see Seanagh tightening her grip on her drinks bottle. “I think what he did, going round and thanking all of the mechanics for their hard work was a wonderful thing, he didn’t have to do it but I actually think it was very-”

“I mean when he had his own little press briefing at the Ferrari garage without telling anyone right before he left the circuit so his press officer had to let all of us know” Richard could see Seanagh’s jaw clenching again. When it came to the press there were two things she didn’t like: journalists disrespecting her by deliberately cutting her off, and journalists kicking her team while they were down.

“Well” Seanagh’s voice, that had been nothing more than friendly and professional, how had an edge of sharpness to it. “What Sebastian does is of his own choosing, and…” Seanagh pushed the journalist’s dictaphone from under her nose. “If you want another quote from me, don’t cut me off mid-sentence _or_ disrespect my team again” And with that Seanagh walked away, leaving the journalist, Richard and Will Buxton all looking stunned.

“I am so sorry” Richard blurted out, hoping and praying that nothing was going to come from Seanagh’s actions, because that was all anyone needed.

“She has a point” Will butted in. “Seanagh’s worked hard to get where she is, the least you can do is let her finish a sentence” Will looked at Richard and gave him the smallest of nods, before putting his attention back to the job at hand. Richard let out a sigh and turned on his heels to leave when the voice of the journalist, having been taken down a few pegs by one of the paddock’s most respected voices, now sounded very sheepish.

“Won’t happen again” Richard didn’t say anything in fear of swearing at him accidentally and he finally left the press pen and made his way back to Ferrari where he found Seanagh sat back at the table with Britta and Vanessa. He really couldn’t wait to go home.

 

As Seanagh took her seat on the train she briefly looked around her; Will had his laptop out and his headphones plugged in meaning he wasn’t in the mood for talking, and Vanessa and Richard were on their phones texting. They all looked incredibly downbeat and exhausted to boot. With a sigh Seanagh pulled out her phone from her pocket to see if she had any messages.

Only one, from Sebastian.

_I’ve gone back to Switzerland. I need some space right now. Sorry._

Seanagh sighed and slid her phone back into her pocket. She leaned her head against the window as the train started to pick up speed as it headed towards its first stop. Nobody could say anything to each other, and that lasted all the way to their airport. They checked into their flight, breezed through security and for once decided to make use of the business class lounge only for the sake of not being recognised.

It wasn’t until everyone was on the plane, not long after midnight before it took off, when they only had sleeping passengers and the night sky for company that those from Ferrari who were on the flight started to think about the season so far, and how the Asian leg had truly punched them in the gut and kicked them whilst they were down without a second thought.

It was the team’s 70th anniversary; it had been ten years since Kimi had won his championship for Ferrari. The team had started off the season so well; it was supposed to be some kind of wonderful fairy tale where everything just slotted into place.

Instead just about everything was now lying around Ferrari in tatters.

 

_Tuesday 10 th October – London _

Seanagh woke at a surprisingly reasonable time considering how late she arrived on Monday night (thanks to her second flight from Dubai being seriously delayed). A part of her hoped that maybe despite Seb’s text he had changed his mind and came over to London instead. But when she rolled over to see the other side of the bed empty she frowned and forced herself to get up and go into the kitchen to make some breakfast even though she wasn’t hungry yet.

She sighed as she walked down the hall and into the living area. She looked up at the sound of clattering keys on the breakfast bar and stopped on the spot when she saw a slightly startled Sebastian gently place down a small brown paper bag and a cup holder with two large coffee cups.

Seanagh said nothing and slowly walked towards Seb and wrapped her arms around his neck in a tight embrace. Sebastian gently wrapped his arms round her waist and nestled his head into the crook of her neck planting a tiny kiss on her skin. Seanagh leaned back far enough that she could move one hand to the side of Seb’s face and softly brush her thumb across his cheek before she kissed him and rested their foreheads together.

“Where do you want to have breakfast?” Seanagh quietly asked glancing over at the coffee cups. Seb huffed with a small shrug.

“As long as it’s here I don’t care” They ended up sat on the balcony overlooking the city. Seanagh and Seb were sat right next to each other and drank their coffee and ate their Danish pastries in near silence just appreciating the fact that the other person was there. Once her coffee was finished Seanagh placed the empty cup on the ground and leaned her head against Seb’s shoulder and held one of his hands.

“I love you” Sebastian didn’t say anything and just smiled down at their entwined hands. “I mean it, I really do”

“I know you do” Seb turned his head to look down at Seanagh and smiled before leaning down to kiss the end of her nose. “I love you too”

“It’s gonna be okay” Seb frowned and looked down at their entwined hands again and brushed his thumb against the back of Seanagh’s hand, the tiniest of smiles appearing on his face. “Come on let’s go back inside, we can watch a film and just… not think about it” Seanagh stood up from her seat while still holding Seb’s hand. She shivered as a cold breeze went right through her skin.

“Why are you cold or something?” Seb asked with a bright, cheeky grin.

“I’m on the balcony of my London flat in my pyjamas in October, I am absolutely freezing” Seb chuckled as he stood up and let go of Seanagh’s hand to take off his hoodie and place it over her shoulders with a small kiss on the forehead. Seanagh smiled as she led Sebastian back inside and sat down on the bed as he closed the balcony doors.

“Would you mind if I stayed for a few days?”

“You can stay for as long as you want schatz” Seanagh smiled as Seb sat down on the bed next to her and kissed her shoulder and kept his head rested there. “You never have to ask if you want to stay, you could turn up in the middle of the night if you wanted to”

“Thank you darling”

“Anything for you” Sebastian smiled as he pushed himself up off the bed and busied himself picking out DVDs to watch while Seanagh went through to the living room to retrieve Seb’s bags. When Seanagh returned Seb had half her DVD shelf lying on the bed and they spent half the morning choosing what to watch before curling up in bed together for the rest of the day, already trying to push the Asian leg of the season from their minds.


	46. Uphill Struggle

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The heart wants what it wants

_Thursday 19 th October – Circuit of the Americas, Austin_

“Tanti auguri a te, tanti auguri a te, tanti auguri a Mary, Tanti auguri a teeee!” The whole Ferrari hospitality building burst into cheers and applause as Mary was presented with a birthday cake completely out of the blue. She smiled and thanked Maurizio and Stefania before happily cutting herself a slice.

“Nice for us to have something to celebrate” Richard remarked as he was handed a slice of cake and sat down next to Seanagh, who shot a slightly disapproving look at her press officer.

“The season’s not over yet” Mary also shot Richard a look as she sipped on her cup of tea. “You didn’t have to get the team to lay this on for me” She looked at Seanagh who just shrugged as people from catering appeared with enough cake for the whole team.

“It was Maurizio’s idea, not mine”

“If you say so…” It was currently lunch hour, and since the team were insistent of having some kind of celebration for Mary’s birthday, just about every Ferrari team member had a plate of cake in their hand to go with their usual fare of pasta and coffee.

“Happy Birthday Mrs Palmer” Sebastian came over to Seanagh’s table alongside Vanessa and smiled slightly awkwardly at Mary.

“Thank you Sebastian” Mary smiled at Seb warmly, and offered him a seat which he politely turned down before leaving after a few brief moments of conversation. “He doesn’t have to be so formal you know”

“I’ve tried telling him Mum” Seanagh shrugged, finally tucking into her slice of cake. “Where are you going?” She asked as Mary stood up while glancing over at Sebastian’s table.

“Don’t worry, I’m not going to cause a diplomatic incident” Mary rolled her eyes and slowly walked over to Sebastian’s table where Britta kindly pulled out a chair for her. Mary politely smiled as Britta and Antti wished her a happy birthday while Sebastian suddenly looked very nervous. “I’m not sure if Seanagh mentioned it but she booked a table for dinner tonight and since there’s some seats suddenly available, you three are more than welcome to join us”

“Seanagh told us at breakfast didn’t she?” Britta asked Antti and Sebastian.

“Uh yeah I think so” Antti nodded and looked at his driver for confirmation.

“Well it would be nice to have you there”

“One of us will let Seanagh know if we can make it” Antti smiled while Sebastian nodded in agreement.

“What time?” Sebastian asked having apparently forgotten the details Seanagh had told him at breakfast.

“The reservation is for half seven, we were thinking of leaving the hotel at about ten to” Britta looked at her watch to see how many hours Sebastian had between now and seven o’clock to fit in the rest of his schedule.

“Lunch is nearly over; we need to get going Seb”.

“See you later” Seb patted Antti on the shoulder and politely smiled at Mary before he followed Britta towards the main door where they met Richard and Seanagh, the four of them walking into the paddock together.

 

Seb was grateful that Seanagh and Richard had agreed to walk with him and Britta towards the press pen. Given how his season had fallen apart at the seams in just a handful of races, Seb needed all the moral support he could get right now.

As they walked through the paddock the group couldn’t help but notice how much busier it was than usual, so it wasn’t that much of a surprise when someone from Haas ended up walking right between Seanagh and Sebastian, giving Seb a firm shoulder hit as he did so. They both turned round to apologise, but Seanagh froze before the words could come out of her mouth.

“Sorry, we didn’t see you” Sebastian gave the man a polite smile; he was only slightly taller than Seb, and had dark near-black hair with grey eyes. Seb felt like he had seen his face in passing once.

“Yeah well, watch where you’re going next time” The man, who turned out to be English, spoke only at Seb with a harsh tone and cold eyes.

“Please don’t do this here Tom, not now” Words finally fell out of Seanagh’s mouth sounding surprisingly desperate, Seb had never heard Seanagh speak like that before. He tried not to react too much when he realised that this Tom was Seanagh’s near childhood sweetheart who now had a factory job at Haas. It was easy to see why they had been a couple, Tom looked like your above average model with his chiselled features and well-built frame, it made Seb suddenly feel very inferior.

“Why?” Tom took a step towards Seanagh who had squared up her shoulders and clenched her jaw tightly.

“I think the last thing Haas needs is one of their employees causing a scene with both of Ferrari’s drivers” Seanagh found her normal voice again, this time with an added hint of aggression. “Come on guys”

“I hope Hamilton wins the title on Sunday!” Seanagh spun on her heels and led Richard away, completely ignoring Tom’s words. Britta led Seb away and made sure they were following their colleagues extremely closely.

“What an awful man” Britta muttered, in German, in Seb’s ear.

“He wasn’t like that before apparently” Seb suddenly became very glad that his dark sunglasses were shielding everyone from seeing the look in his eyes.

“What a shame he allowed heartbreak to do that to him” Britta scoffed before putting on a bright smile for the journalists as they arrived. Seb said nothing and followed his colleagues; he just managed to gently squeeze Seanagh’s shoulder before they were led to opposite sides of the press pen.

 

The restaurant Seanagh had booked the reservation at was right in the city centre. But considering it wasn’t the usual Texan steakhouse there were still free tables when Seb, Antti and Britta arrived at twenty to eight. Sebastian politely smiled at the waiter on the door when the trio looked around the restaurant for Seanagh.

“Uh my friend booked a table for half past seven; she said we were running late”

“What’s the name?”

“Palmer” The waiter looked down at the reservation list and nodded before leading Sebastian, Antti and Britta to an outdoor patio at the back of the restaurant. They all thanked the waiter as he quickly took their drinks orders and left them to sit down with the rest of the group.

“Hey you made it!” Will smiled as Seb, Antti and Britta filed into the seats that had been left for them, Antti and Britta sat on either side of Richard while Seb took the empty seat next to Will. After about five minutes the waiter returned with everyone’s drinks and left with everyone’s food orders.

While they waited for their food everyone smiled, and talked and laughed and there was something about the whole thing that felt so normal to Sebastian. There was hardly any mention of racing and instead Mary was recalling her career as a member of Cabin Crew before she got her first of many promotions. It made Seb forget about his season and if he was being completely honest, he and everyone else were enjoying themselves so much that he wasn't sure if he wanted to race, he'd much rather have a repeat of this evening instead.

“It’s a shame Mark couldn’t be here” Seb remarked after a few minutes, it was clear that Mary’s birthday dinner was supposed to be a family event, but Seb did appreciate the extended invitation none the less.

“Some idiot decided to drive his car for half a mile with no clutch before thinking about taking it to the garage, and there was even more things wrong with it so Mark is having to work on it all weekend” Mary sighed and rolled her eyes. “He did call though, and had flowers sent to my room” Mary blushed as the waiter appeared again with everyone’s food.

Conversation on just about anything apart from racing flowed across the table along with more bright smiles and laughter. The atmosphere was so warm it not only made Seb forget about his terrible run of races, but the fact he’d ran into Seanagh’s ex as well.

“Ah, and then there was the time Seanagh spilt a full bottle of nail polish all over the carpet…” Sebastian found it adorable how Seanagh's cheeks went bright pink and she tried to hide it by burying her face in her hands.

"Mum Seb's already heard this one" Seb remembered when Seanagh had told him, over dinner at his place not long after they had first gotten together. Her face had gone as red as her wine that night too.

"But we haven't!" Britta protested Seanagh while Antti leaned forward, both of them eager to hear about Seanagh's early years. Mary recalled the story, how when she was painting her nails for work the next day Seanagh and Mark returned from a kart race that Seanagh had won and Seanagh had been swinging her trophy around so excitedly that it knocked Mary’s bottle of bright red nail polish onto the floor – breaking it in the process and spilling it all over the cream living room carpet.

“There’s still a mark on the base of the trophy” Seanagh blushed as the waiters returned to clear the table. They decided to hang around for a few more minutes of talking before Vanessa called for a couple of taxis to take everyone back to the hotel.

As they filed out of the patio area and back into the main restaurant Sebastian held the door open for everyone, for some reason Mary let everyone go through before she did.

“Thank you for coming Sebastian” Mary smiled warmly at Seb; he smiled back since he no longer felt so apprehensive at being around her.

“Happy to be here” Seb went to walk through the open door but Mary held up her hand, signalling she wanted to wait and speak to Seb in private. Mary deliberately waited until Seanagh and the rest of the group were out of eyesight before she spoke.

“Seanagh told me about what happened this afternoon” Seb let out a shaky breath, a lot of things had happened that afternoon but he knew exactly what Mary was referring to judging by the sympathetic look in her eyes. “I just wanted to see if you were alright”

“Well…” Sebastian stammered and just opened and closed his mouth.

“In Seanagh’s words, Tom had been a bit of an arse and considering the way your past few races have gone…” Mary trailed off and shrugged, still fixing Sebastian with her sympathetic gaze. “Forgive me if I’ve suddenly crossed a line”

“Oh no, it’s just uh… it was a bit of a shock that’s all” Seb scratched behind his ear and stuffed his hands in his pockets.

“I can tell you obviously care about Seanagh, and I’m not going to say that I prefer you to Tom because I have no idea what kind of person he is anymore. But what I will say, is that your family has been nothing but wonderful to Mark, Will and myself. And believe me Sebastian that says an awful lot to me, as does the fact you and Seanagh have been able to put everything behind you”

“Thanks” Seb gave a quiet sigh of relief and found a small, genuine smile appear on his face.

“Come on, before Britta shouts at us for holding up the taxi” Seb opened the door and let Mary through first. “And for the record” Mary reached out for the main door when they had walked through the main restaurant to the exit. “Mark and myself really hope you end up winning the title after all this” Mary smiled warmly at Seb as she opened the door and stepped out into the street.

“Thank you Mary” Seb had decided enough with the formalities since Mary had been nothing but kind to him.

“You’re welcome, Seb” With a smile and a nod they both went inside their waiting taxis that finally drove off back towards their hotel.

 

_Sunday 22 nd October _

The race came and went, and nothing much really happened. Sebastian had managed to overtake Lewis at the start, but he only managed to hold the lead for just five laps. After that Lewis stormed to victory and Seb had to settle for second.

The only significant drama was on the last lap when Seanagh and Max were embroiled in a tight battle for third place. Everyone thought Max had taken it with a questionable pass in the final sector when Seanagh caught up to the Red Bull in the last corner and both cars appeared to have crossed the finish line at the exact same time. Seanagh ended up getting third place since the stewards had given Max a time penalty for cutting the corner when he overtook the Ferrari, it wasn’t hard for Mary to notice the bright and relieved smile that appeared on Sebastian’s face when Seanagh walked into the podium cool down room.

Mary sighed as she took off her radio headset and set it down beside her. While both sides of the garage looked pleased at another Ferrari double podium, everyone’s smiles seemed particularly subdued. It wasn’t hard to see why, with three races left and Lewis’ 59 point lead over Sebastian, both Seb and Ferrari were in dire need of a miracle. Because it seemed that Lewis winning his fourth world title was now just a mere formality.

 

Hours had passed since the end of the race, and yet Seanagh still felt slightly empty despite finishing in third place. When she thought about it, she felt for Seb; he’d gone from leading the driver’s championship for just over half the season, to his main rival being on the edge of winning the title instead.

Seb had come to her room after the race, and after a few minutes of talking he had gone out onto the balcony for some air, and that had been ten minutes ago. Seanagh sighed as she got up from the bed and quietly slid open the door, keeping her distance just in case.

“Seb?” He didn’t say anything and kept looking out at the view in front of him. “Are you okay?” Seanagh had been getting increasingly worried about her team mate the longer he’d been stood outside staring at nothing.

“I don’t know” Seb shrugged and briefly glanced at Seanagh, she took that as a sign that she could stand a little closer to him. “See, when I moved to Ferrari I wanted to win with them because it was what Michael did. But now I’ve been here for three years, my whole reasoning changed. I’ve wanted to win for them because when one of us wins a race it lifts the whole team like nothing I’ve even seen before and now I just…” Sebastian closed his eyes and gripped his hands around the balcony railing. “I feel like it’s all slipping away” Seanagh frowned, the desperation in Seb’s voice almost breaking her own heart in two. She hugged him around the shoulders, kissed his temple and just held him for as long as both of them needed. “I know how much everyone in the team wants me to win this championship, and I just want to make them proud, and Britta and Antti and my family and you and…” Seb half turned round so Seanagh could properly wrap an arm around his middle. Seanagh didn’t say anything at the small tear that was rolling down Seb’s cheek and she just gently brushed it away with her thumb.

“Believe me Seb we are all so, so proud of you”

“But I messed up so many times” Seb’s voice cracked as he sniffled. “In Baku and in Singapore… I’ve just been so horrible this year. I even took race wins from you” He closed his eyes and bit down on his bottom lip, as if to stop himself from bursting into tears.

“Everybody messes up Seb, and even so… Everyone in this team still loves you, especially me” Seanagh tilted Seb’s chin up with her free hand. “See, after the race in Japan. I got out the car and went to my mechanics, and they told me how you thanked and apologised to everyone. They said that it was a true testament to your character. I don’t think even they could begin to say how much they appreciated it” She gave Seb a small smile. “If you were so horrible then you wouldn’t have done that. And I know you Seb, you just have your moments everyone does” Sebastian still remained silent and went to looking back down at the ground again. “I remember at Austin last year, when I didn’t finish the race, I pretty much just broke down in front of Vanessa because I was so upset. And I just blamed myself for something that wasn’t even my fault. It’s okay to let things get to you, you’re only human”

“But everyone expects so much from me! And if I don’t win this championship then-”

“Then we’ll all love and respect you just as we’ve done before”

“You shouldn’t…”

“Yeah well, that’s what people who love each other do Seb. They wipe away someone’s tears and just hold them close and tell them that no matter what happens then they’ll be there for them and that it’s going to be okay” Seb gave another small sniffle and looked at Seanagh through his eyelashes. She wiped away another tear from his cheek and gave Seb her most reassuring smile as he leaned down to nestle his head into the crook of her neck. Seanagh just kissed Seb’s cheek and rubbed his back. A part of her was regretting starting the whole conversation up in the first place but at the same time, Seb had clearly needed to get everything off his chest.

“Is it really going to be okay?” Seb asked as he stood up and bit down on his lip nervously.

“Of course, championship or not I know that everyone in the garage is going to be behind you” She slid both of her hands into Sebastian’s and squeezed them tightly. “Because we’re a team”

“I really don’t deserve any of you” Seb shook his head sighed.

“You do darling. Trust me” Seanagh squeezed Seb’s hands again and smiled at him. “Ich liebe dich Sebastian” He almost looked startled at Seanagh making such a heartfelt admission in his native language. But he knew that she’d done it to show that she truly and utterly meant it. Seanagh could see tears brimming in Seb’s eyes and she just brushed them away as they fell down his face. At some point Seb took Seanagh’s hand that was touching has face and kissed the back of it, holding it against his chest.

“Ich liebe dich auch mein schatzi”

Three sudden and firm knocks at the door pulled Seanagh and Seb out of their moment. Seanagh sighed as silence fell upon her hotel room once more, only for the knocks to return again. “You should get that” Seanagh frowned; she didn’t fancy having to talk to someone else right now. “Go on, before they knock the door down. I’ll wait here” Seb encouraged as whoever was on the other side of the door battered it with their fist.

“Coming!” Seanagh called out into her room and rushed towards the door opening it fully, she took in a small gasp at the person who was giving her a small smile. “Tom?” She also didn’t want to believe it was him coming to see her. “What on earth do you think you’re doing here?” Seanagh spoke sharply, Thursday afternoon very quickly springing to mind.

“I feel like I should set the record straight after what I did on Thursday” Seanagh hesitated; her hand was still on the door ready to slam it in Tom’s face if necessary. But then again, maybe if they talked there would mean no more horrid paddock encounters. So Seanagh let him into her room and quietly shut the door behind him, suddenly feeling very aware that Seb was still in the room although thankfully completely out of view.

“So” Seanagh frowned and folded her arms across her chest. “What is it you want to say?” Tom sighed; he was leaning against the wall that separated the living area from the bedroom, right next to the open door that if Tom walked through would lead to Seb being seen.

“Well, to apologise. Mainly for being such a dickhead towards your team mate” Seanagh just hummed, not knowing how to respond. “After you and I met again last year I um… I’ve done a lot of thinking”

“And?”

“I still have a lot of feelings for you” Seanagh’s eyes widened and she pursed her lips together, she felt as if she had completely forgotten how to speak and that her feet were suddenly glued to the spot. “And I guess, I’m still angry at my parents for being the reason you broke up with me, and that I’m jealous of that team mate of yours because he’s one of the lucky ones that gets to spend all the time in the world with you and… I don’t know. I want that to be me again”

“That’s…” Seanagh let out a shaky sigh and felt her whole mind go blank. “I… no” She just about managed to shake her head as the shock began to subside. “It’s been five years okay. And a lot has changed. The only thing that probably hasn’t is the way your parents feel about me” Tom huffed with a small tilt of the head and looked down at his shoes. “Besides I’m not exactly available anyway” Seanagh squeezed her eyes shut, suddenly remembering that she hadn’t shut the balcony door behind her. “I met someone, nearly four years ago now and…” Seanagh cut herself off mid-sentence.

“It’s okay, you can say it”

“We’re not completely official, if anything it’s beyond complicated… But we make each other happy. And I love him, so, so much”

“Does he love you too?” Tom asked quietly.

“Yes”

“And are his family nice?”

“They’re just as wonderful as he is” Seanagh replied with a small smile. It was true; Seb’s family were kind and they got on with Seanagh’s parents. They were good people, just like Sebastian. Tom said nothing and just nodded before a small smile appeared on his face.

“In that case, I’m happy for you”

“Really?” Seanagh let out a surprised sigh.

“Yeah, you’ve moved on so…” Tom shrugged and made his own way towards the door. “See you round”

“Bye” Seanagh watched as Tom left her room with a small wave. She felt frozen to the spot again, and felt that maybe, that she might finally have gotten closure after nearly five years. Seanagh looked down at the floor for a second, and when she looked back up again Sebastian was stood roughly where Tom had been just seconds before. “Hi”

“Hi” Seanagh walked over to Seb, standing just a few inches from him.

“How much did you hear?” Seanagh winced; she knew Seb had heard her and Tom’s entire conversation so she wasn’t sure why she was asking.

“Just the bit where you said you loved me” Seanagh gave a small sigh of relief and let Seb hold her hands. She pulled him towards her and kissed him softly, allowing herself to get lost in the moment completely.

“I really do love you Seb” Seanagh spoke almost breathlessly as they seemed to lead each other over towards the bed. She had no complaints about that.

“I love you too darling” Seb sat down on the bed and wrapped his arms round Seanagh’s waist holding her close. “Don’t worry I shut the balcony door behind me” And with that Seanagh smiled and let Sebastian pull her down with him and they spent the rest of the night getting completely lost in each other. So while Seb and Ferrari had pretty much let both championships slip out of their grasp in that moment the two drivers had each other. For that moment it was enough.


	47. Aftermath

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Never lose sight of what you have

_Sunday 29th October – Mexico City_

She was the third car to see the chequered flag. Not that it mattered. She knew Seb was in fourth. She knew Lewis made it into the points. She didn’t want her podium. She didn’t want it at all.

“Good job Seanagh well done” Was all that Dave or Maurizio could say to her over the radio. Their solemn voices saying it all.

“Grazie ragazzi Forza Ferrari” Seanagh just about managed to reply before coughing away a lump in her throat as she waved to the crowd on the parade lap. With a slightly heavy heart she pulled her car into the stadium section without too much trouble and stopped in front of the number three sign. Out of the corner of her eye she could see someone from the FIA place a gold sign with the number 44 on it and she scoffed, really wanting it to be the number 5 instead.

She gave herself a moment before getting out of the car and waved to the crowd before slowly walking over to the scales to be weighed. DC appeared out of nowhere and walked right past the Ferrari driver making a beeline for Lewis, Seanagh made a mental note to congratulate him or face god knows what from the press. It felt like a part of her meant it when she gave Lewis a firm handshake and congratulated him with a small smile. But again that part of her brain that wanted Seb to be standing in front of her was still very much present.

Seanagh really tried her best to smile when she was presented with her third place trophy; she walked forward to the front of the podium and lifted her trophy high in the air while patting the Ferrari badge on her overalls with her free hand trying to tell the world a message. That she was never going to give up on her team, championship loss or otherwise.

 

Richard had deliberately kept Seanagh in the press pen for the bare minimum amount of time before leading her back to hospitality. The feeling in the small building was so strange; he had never seen a team look so devastated after getting third place. But then again, there had been points when it felt like the whole team had been fighting for the championship and not just Seb, so he didn’t say anything about it. If anything he felt just about as gutted as everyone else.

“You did good today” Richard gave Seanagh a small smile and patted his driver on the shoulder. Despite everything he was still incredibly proud of her as he always was.

“I guess, thanks Rich” Seanagh shrugged before heading up the stairs, Richard didn’t mind being dumped by the main door as he went over to join Vanessa who looked to be comforting Britta. It really did feel like the whole team had lost everything.

 

Seanagh was relieved to see Antti at the top of the stairs. He was stood leaning against the door to Seb’s room with his arms folded across his chest. Seanagh stood in front of the Finn and gave him a hopeful look, only for him to shake his head in return.

“Sorry” Seanagh frowned and looked at the floor. She had been in Seb’s position in the junior categories. She knew how much a title loss hurt.

With a shake of the head she went into her own room and quickly got changed within minutes, when she left her room with her things in hand Antti had left his post. Seanagh slowly walked over to Seb’s room and placed her hand on the door. For whatever reason she couldn’t bring herself to open it so she just rested her head against the door and sighed. Ever since Singapore Sebastian had been so determined, Seanagh had never seen him so fired up even when the championship was slipping out of his grasp at every race after. Maybe she was biased, but in her mind Seb deserved the title just as much as Lewis did.

She frowned as she stepped away from the door, she knew Seb would both want and need some time to himself. Even if she would have given her third place trophy to be with him in that room or to start the whole damn race all over again.

 

Seb had no clue how long it had been since he entered his driver room when he left, but the building was quiet with very few people going about, and the sun seemed to be quite low in the sky. A while then. He wasn’t surprised.

“There you are” Antti stood up from where he had been sat on the floor. “Britta’s downstairs”

“Where’s Seanagh?” He knew she had finished in third, he felt the need to congratulate her.

“Back at the hotel” Seb gave a quiet hum and went back into his room to retrieve his things before walking out again, much to Antti’s relief.

“Can we go then?” Sebastian asked flatly, he felt so tired. Tired from the race. Tired from having to hide how he felt from the press. Tired of the second half of the season. He wanted his team mate. He wanted to go home.

“Yeah we can go” Antti lead his driver down the stairs and made eye contact with Britta who jumped up from her seat, she had her things by her side too. They walked out into the paddock together and Seb kept his sunglasses over his eyes and mainly looked at his shoes while no one said anything as they left the paddock. He didn’t even look back at the circuit as he drove away once Britta and Antti were in the car.

 

“Well it was nice to see you on the podium anyway” Even over the phone Mary sounded slightly down and upset. Apparently her and Mark had grown to like Seb enough to feel bad for him when he lost.

“Such a shame about Sebastian though” Seanagh could swear her Dad sounded almost devastated.

“He’s made of strong stuff, he’ll bounce back” Seanagh really hoped for that to be true. It had been hours since the end of the race and she still hadn’t seen him. She was almost contemplating calling Britta or Antti to ask if Seb was okay.

“Let’s hope so anyway” Mia, who was sat opposite Seanagh on her bed sighed, and gave Seanagh a reassuring smile and gentle pat on the hand.

“I don’t know when would be a good time, but send Sebastian our best wishes” Seanagh could tell that Mark meant what he said, and she took an awful lot of comfort in it.

“I will” Seanagh smiled, she felt better knowing her family genuinely cared for her team mate. “If you don’t mind I’m really tired, I was thinking of having a nap or something”

“Of course love, you’ll let us know when you’re back in London won’t you?”

“Yeah I will”

“Night then sweetheart” And with the phone call home over Seanagh huffed and ran her hands across her face.

“At least it’s over now” Mia stood up from the bed and folded her arms across her chest. “Are you okay?”

“No” Seanagh shook her head and stood up too, happily accepting a warm hug from Mia. “It wasn’t even my championship and it still hurts”

“Well, if you need to run away from everything for a few days, there’s a spare bedroom at mine and Nico’s” Mia patted Seanagh’s arm and smiled. “Just let us know”

“Thanks Mia” Seanagh half-yawned and flopped back down on the bed.

“I’ll let you get that nap, call me when you get back home okay?”

“Will do!” Seanagh called out and waved as Mia left her room. When her friend was gone Seanagh shook her head and lay down on the bed, if she was being completely honest she just wanted to go home. When she went to reach for her phone again to ask Richard if they could get an earlier flight there was a quiet knock on her door.

Seanagh sighed as she got up off the bed and crossed the room to open the door, seeing a heartbroken Seb on the other side. She stepped aside and let him in and placed the do not disturb sign on the handle and locked the door. Seb was stood by the window looking out at the view with a frown on his face. Seanagh walked over towards him and forced her arms around Seb’s waist and hugged him tightly, Seb did the same and rested his chin on top of her head.

They stayed like that for minutes, neither of them saying anything because no words could fix how they both felt.

“I…” Seb started but his voice cracked. Seanagh brushed her thumb across his cheek and looked into his watery eyes. She said nothing and kissed his cheek. “I love you” Seb’s voice waned again and he took a shaky breath.

“I love you too my darling” Seb gave the smallest of smiles and kissed the back of Seanagh’s hand and brushed his thumb across her skin. “If you want we could hot foot it out of here and get an early flight home” Seanagh asked feeling pretty sure that neither of them wanted to stay in Mexico much longer.

“Your home or my home?”

“Yours of course” Seb was twirling a lock of Seanagh’s hair round his finger. He sighed and bit his lip, after a good few minutes of deliberating he nodded. “I’ll call Britta” Just as Seanagh spoke there was a hasty knock at the door; she went to answer it she was greeted with Antti, Britta and an awful lot of luggage.

“Four tickets for the next flight to Switzerland, if you can pack your bags and changed quickly enough. Richard, Vanessa and Will are on the next flight to London” Seanagh nodded and let the pair in, before mouthing a quick thank you and rushing off to get changed and within ten minutes they were checked out of the hotel and on their way to the airport.

 

A couple of hours after take-off Seb had fallen asleep; Seanagh looked at him across the cabin from her seat next to Britta. Antti was still intent on doing his job of looking after his driver as he managed to get a blanket over Seb to keep him warm.

“Poor thing” Britta sighed as Antti quietly left his seat and approached his colleagues.

“Well at least now we can all get some rest” The Finn ran a hand across his tired face and let out a long yawn.

“Thank you for this by the way” Seanagh looked between Britta and Antti and smiled at them both.

“We figured you both could use the company” Britta smiled and looked at the two drivers. Despite the eventful year they both had, Seanagh was still so proud of Seb after everything he’d done to try and keep his title hopes alive. “Get some sleep, both of you” Britta looked at Antti and Seanagh with a strong but slightly sympathetic gaze as Antti went back to his seat. Seanagh took one final look at Sebastian and realising that he was in good hands; she closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep.

_Wednesday 1st November – Switzerland_

Seanagh woke first in the morning. The first thing she saw when she opened her eyes was the beautiful Swiss mountain view outside the window. She let out a small sigh and slowly rolled over onto her side to see Seb still fast asleep. She didn’t want to wake him, after everything the weekend had dealt him he needed as much sleep as he could get.

She still couldn’t believe just how gracious he had been towards the press after the race, but anyone could clearly see just how broken he was after losing the title that everyone thought would be his. Sebastian’s head gently lolled to the side and his slow and quiet breaths changed to louder deeper ones. His eyes opened and Seanagh gave him a small smile as he looked up at her. Seanagh said nothing and snuggled into his side resting her head on his shoulder, they lay in silence like that for minutes. Seb didn’t need any words because no words would do, he just needed her. Then he might be alright.

“I love you” Sebastian turned his head and kissed Seanagh’s hair, he sounded only slightly less dejected than what he had done a few days before. Seanagh propped herself up with her arm and ran a hand through Seb’s hair with her free hand before she leaned down and softly kissed him.

“I love you too”

“Thank you for coming back with me” He hadn’t stopped thanking her ever since they had landed in Zurich.

“Anything for you schatzi” Seb gently kissed Seanagh’s forehead before sitting up and looking out the window. It looked surprisingly sunny for the start of November. Seanagh sat up and wrapped her arms around Seb, peppering his face with kisses. She kissed his cheek, his temple, his jaw, just below his hairline; it pained her to see him so hurt, not after he had fought so hard for the slimmest of chances. “Do you want some breakfast?” Seanagh hoped that the distraction of food might cheer him up. Seb frowned as he patted his stomach as it gave a quiet rumble.

“I suppose we can’t stay in bed all day” He went to get out of bed when Seanagh gently pushed him back.

“I’ll cook, you can stay right here. Breakfast in bed how about that?” A small smile crept onto Seb’s face.

“Like in Japan” Their anniversary getaway, what a happy day that was still three years later.

“Be right back” Seanagh kissed Seb’s nose and jumped out of bed pulling on her dressing gown over her pyjamas. She returned twenty minutes later slowly carrying a tray that had two small stacks of blueberry pancakes with two cups of coffee and two small glasses of orange juice with a tiny jug of maple syrup on the side. Surprisingly Seb said nothing about the sweet breakfast meddling with his diet and poured more than half the maple syrup onto his plate and hummed with content when he took a bite out of the pancakes.

“I forgot how good these were” Seanagh smiled, it was nice to know that pancakes still fixed a bad race.

 

After leisurely eating their breakfast they got dressed and decided to go for a short walk in the hope that some fresh air would also help Sebastian’s mood. The path they walked along was empty apart from the two drivers so Seanagh walked with one of her arms linked through Seb’s while occasionally resting her head on his shoulder. After a little while Seb sighed and moved his arm so he and Seanagh could hold hands as they walked, their fingers tightly intertwined.

“I forgot how nice it is to have you here” Seanagh said nothing and just smiled at him. “I’ve missed it”

“You and me both Seb” Ever since they had arrived in Switzerland Seanagh hadn’t stopped thinking. She really wanted to talk to Seb about something, but she felt that Seb was still pouring over his championship loss and wanted to wait until he was in a better mood. “It’s nice to be by ourselves for a change” Seb hummed and looked down at their entwined hands and stopped walking, seeing the slightly distracted look on Seanagh’s face. “You okay?”

“Yeah I just-” A strong gust in the breeze blew a leaf right into Seb’s face cutting him off, Seanagh giggled as she peeled it off his cheek.

“You look like you have something on your mind”

“It’s nothing” Seanagh shrugged it off; cheering up Seb was her main priority.

“It’s just that every time I look at you you’re thinking about something” Seanagh wanted to joke about Seb being a mind reader but now probably wasn’t the time.

“I’ve just… been thinking about things that’s all”

“Like what?”

“I told you it’s nothing-”

“But if something’s bothering you darling then I want to know!” Seanagh sighed and titled her head to look at Seb with a small smile. He always called her darling when they were away from prying ears, always held her hand and kissed her when they away from prying eyes.

“It’s just…” She didn’t really know how to say it, as she looked at Sebastian she felt her partially prepared speech melt into the air. “I want to be a part of your life again Seb”

“But… you already are a part of my life” Seb’s bright blue eyes became filled with confusion as Seanagh held both of his hands and gave them a gentle squeeze. “We were always going to be more than just team mates Seanagh”

“I know” Seanagh smiled and took a small step forwards closer to her team mate. “What I’m trying to say is…” She tried to find words but she couldn’t. Seanagh briefly bit down on her lip and shook her head before going up on her tip toes, and cupping Seb’s face with her hands and kissed his with so much force that he had to place his hands on her waist to steady himself. Seb wrapped his arms tightly round Seanagh and felt his lips curve into a smile as Seanagh pulled away and briefly rested her head against his. “I’m done with going slowly Seb”

“You’re what?” The words fell out of Seb’s mouth in a hurried sigh.

“You’re the one who said the ball was in my court. And I want this, I… I want us” Seanagh brushed her thumb across Seb’s cheek and smiled at him softly.

“Us?” Seb’s face went blank with surprise.

“I want to wake up next to you as often as I want; I want you to be the one I celebrate a good race with. I want-”

“Us” Seb’s face suddenly split into a bright grin, and his eyes seemed to have regained the sparkle that they had lost after the race in Mexico. He pursed his lips together for a moment before he smiled brightly again. Sebastian brought a hand to Seanagh’s face and brushed the tip of this thumb along her jaw. “Okay”

“Okay” Seanagh smiled as Seb titled her head up ever so slightly so he could lean down to kiss her.

 

_Saturday 4th November – Heppenheim_

Seanagh had felt fine on the flight to Frankfurt, and on the train towards Seb’s hometown. But now as their taxi drove through the streets of Heppenheim she was finally beginning to feel nervous. Seanagh had to admit though, the town really looked beautiful in late-autumn, it was like driving through a beautifully perfect German postcard. She looked over when she felt Sebastian squeeze her hand a few times in reassurance. They hadn’t been together for two hours when Seb had called home wondering if he could visit after his two days at the factory; it wasn’t until they were on the plane when he told them he was bringing his girlfriend with him.

His girlfriend. It still felt odd knowing she fitted that description alongside team mate. Even if that now Seanagh properly thought about it, she felt like she had been his girlfriend for far longer than three days.

“At least you’ve already met them, it’ll be fine” Seanagh nodded but still kept a hold of Seb’s hand as they finally stopped outside his family’s house.

 

“They’re here!” Fabian called through to the kitchen as a taxi pulled up outside the front door. His parents nervously walked through into the living room and hurriedly began to smooth out their clothes.

“Go get their bags sweetie” Fabian rolled his eyes at his Mum fiddling with the collar of the smart shirt she had made him wear, he didn’t see why they all had to dress to smartly when Seb was just bringing a girl home. Especially since he hadn’t even told them what her name was. He walked out the front door and down the steps to the pavement where his older brother was waiting for him. Seb smiled as soon as he saw Fabian and hugged him tightly.

“Hey Fabe” Seb was so happy he even ruffled Fabian’s hair, which he smoothed down with a frown. He tried to look round his brother to get a glimpse of his girlfriend but the taxi driver she was talking to blocked her from view. He silently told her to hurry up because there was a horrible chill in the air.

“Danke” Seb’s girlfriend handed the taxi driver money and placed her and Seb’s suitcases on the pavement. When she finally looked up and held Sebastian’s hand Fabian’s jaw dropped. “It’s nice to see you again Fabian” Seanagh smiled at him and held out her hand for him to shake as the taxi drove off. Fabian couldn’t help himself but let out a small laugh and hugged Seanagh and Seb at once. They both patted him on the back as he hugged them.

“Oh my god I can’t believe it. Finally!” Fabian clapped his hands together from excitement.

“Yes Fabe we really want the whole street to know too”

“Sorry…” Fabian shrugged and picked up the two suitcases. “Mum said to take these upstairs, she really wants to see you two”

 

Seb let out a slightly shaky breath as he led Seanagh up the steps off the street and into the house. They quietly took off their coats and shoes and stood in the hall for a few seconds before Seb walked into the living room first with Seanagh right beside him holding his hand.

Norbert’s and Heike’s faces both split into wide grins when they saw her walk into the room. Norbert was so happy he clapped his hands together and marched over towards Seanagh pulling her into a strong hug.

“I was hoping it would be you” Seanagh blushed and looked over to see Seb being near-squashed by his mother in a huge hug.

“You didn’t need to wait so long to tell us” Heike beamed down at her son and smiled brightly at Seanagh. The two team mates looked at each other and blushed, they hadn’t waited long at all.

“Actually…” Seb started but his father cut him off.

“It doesn’t matter Seb, at least we met you this time” Seanagh couldn’t help but smile, she really felt like her and Seb were getting things off to a good start this time. Despite being team mates, or the prospect of one of them fighting for the title in the future they were determined to make it work between them. “I’d welcome you to the family but…” Norbert looked over Seanagh’s shoulder at the team picture from Hungary that was on the mantelpiece, where Seanagh and Seb were crouched down with their arms round each other as Norbert and Mary sat behind them. “You’ve already been a part of it for a long time”


	48. Lost But Won

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Time to strike back

_Thursday 9th November - Autodromo Jose Carlos Pace_

Sebastian and Seanagh had managed to pull out an excuse out of thin air to allow them to walk the track a second time just by themselves. They slowly walked around the circuit, sometimes taking proper notes but mainly being far too happy about being with each other alone to think about racing. It couldn’t have been a nicer day, the sky was bright blue and the sun was beating down on Interlagos with very few clouds in the sky, surprisingly warm for Brazil in November.

“The concert was great last night” Seb spoke after a brief period of silence with a warm smile. Coldplay had stopped off in Sao Paulo as part of their tour and Sebastian had ordered six tickets months before hand. He and Seanagh had went with their press officer and physios, a much needed evening off before getting fully stuck into the race weekend.

Seanagh hummed in agreement, the picture of her and Seb slow dancing to ‘Yellow’ on replay on her mind. “I love coming back here” Seb brushed his hand against Seanagh’s and they both smiled.

“I couldn’t agree more” Seanagh smiled, for whatever reason Brazil seemed to be a happy place for them, it was where they’d spent their first night together, where last year Seb had said that he loved her, and despite everything the world had thrown at them they both determined to have a good race at Interlagos. And now that the championship was over, they could afford to have some fun out on track without thinking about the consequences too much.

Seanagh coyly took Seb’s hand and led him back towards the pit lane as a group of mechanics just came into view from the bottom of the hill. She didn’t really want to let go, but she reluctantly dropped his hand as they returned to the pit lane and slowly walked through the paddock.

“Oh by the way” Seb opened the door to hospitality and held it out for his team mate. “There are some people here that want to see you” Seanagh raised an eyebrow at the broad grin on her boyfriend’s face. She looked out into the hospitality floor and made a beeline for one of the tables when she saw who was sat there.

“Mum!” Seanagh hurriedly squeezed her way through the gall of people and wrapped her arms round her mother in a tight hug. Apparently, Seanagh’s parents were going to be too caught up with work to be able to make the race in Brazil. But judging by the smug grin that was on Sebastian’s face, apparently not. “What on earth are you doing here?”

“Your father and me managed to find a couple of days holiday, I know we’re coming to Abu Dhabi but…”

“Wait Dad’s here too?!” Seanagh exclaimed looking around for her father, her weekend seemed to be getting better by the second.

“He is” Seanagh looked to see that Seb was leaning against one of the chairs at their table, his smug smile still in place.

“You knew about this?” Seanagh glared at her boyfriend for keeping this from her, even if it was one of the best surprises all year.

“I was sworn to secrecy” Seb held up his hands as Mark and Will walked over from the bar area. She smiled at the sight of them both and hugged her Dad as tightly as she could. She hadn’t expected for Seb and her family to be seeing each other so soon. Not when she had only told them that her and Sebastian had gotten back together right as they left Germany.

“Hello sweetheart” Mark smiled down at his daughter and took a step over towards Sebastian. Seb politely held out his hand expecting a handshake and looked quite startled when he received a firm hug from his girlfriend’s father. “It’s wonderful to see you Seb” Mark clapped Seb on the shoulder and then shook Seb’s hand.

“It’s very nice to see you too, Mark” He looked relieved at not being called Mr Palmer and smiled, inviting everyone to take a seat at the table. Will was constantly looking between his sister and her team mate with a smirk on his face.

“Can you guys stay for lunch?” Will looked hopeful; it seemed everyone wanted to get the whole ‘boyfriend meeting his girlfriend’s family’ thing off on the right foot. Seb looked at his watch and right on cue Britta and Richard emerged from the press office. Both drivers sighed and slowly got up from their seats.

“Sorry, duty calls. See you later” Richard led Seanagh away first, while Britta stood a few feet away smiling at the scene in front of her.

“If any of you need anything just say; I’m sure we’ll be able to sort something out for you” Seb smiled at Seanagh’s family and went to leave when Mary reached a hand out to stop him. She smiled at him warmly and gently patted his arm.

“Welcome to the family Sebastian” Seb sighed, after breaking up with Seanagh three years ago, to going on to be her teammate and falling for her all over again, Mark, Will and Mary had welcomed him with a smile and open arms. He wasn’t entirely sure just what he had done for them to be so good to him, but he was so incredibly grateful for it. “And good luck this weekend”

“Thank you” Seb nodded and smiled before Britta sadly had to drag him away back to the press.

 

_Saturday 11th November_

Mark had an arm around Mary as they watched the closing seconds of Q3; it seemed the only one who was improving on their second run was Bottas, who snatched pole from Sebastian right at the end by the narrowest of narrow margins. Mark and Mary both sighed in disappointment, while at the start of the year they felt obligated to cheer for Seb out of politeness things had changed a lot since then. Now they were willing him and Seanagh on each and every weekend.

“Still, Seanagh’s in third” Mary smiled up at the timing screens as she slid her headset off her ears.

“I should probably call John, let him know” Mark took a few steps out of the back of the garage to call his brother. Since he and Jolyon weren’t in the paddock anymore and F1 wasn’t really flavour of the month for them Mark had to keep his side of the family updated on the goings on of the travelling circus. John didn’t answer so Mark ended up calling his nephew, who seemed genuinely pleased by the result.

“Oh that’s brilliant! Tell her and Seb I say well done!” Poor Jolyon had seemed to be taking being dumped by Renault surprisingly well, probably because he could cheer for his cousin from the comfort of his own sofa. Mark hung up and returned to the garage just in time for the post-qualifying interviews.

Seanagh and Sebastian had pulled their cars to a stop on the grid as was the new routine, but Valtteri and Johnny Herbert were nattering away in the pit lane. So the TV feed cut to the two Ferrari drivers waving to the crowd before briefly hugging and patting each other on the back for a quali well done. Yes it wasn’t pole, but Mark had seen enough races in Brazil to know that it wasn’t essential, even though everyone in the Ferrari garage looked gutted at pole being so close yet so far away.

 

Hours after qualifying everyone was finally back at the hotel for the night. Will nervously stood outside Seb’s door and waited for him to open it after knocking three times. He looked at his watch just to double check he hadn’t been waiting for the age it felt like when Sebastian opened the door and greeted Will with a polite smile.

“Hey, what can I do for you?” Will paused and nervously rubbed his hands together.

“My Mum and Dad were wondering if you’d want to join us for dinner” Mark had said that they wanted to make Seb feel welcome, he was Seanagh’s boyfriend again and this time they really were going to make the effort with him as they really hadn’t done so before.

“Uh…” Seb bit the corner of his lip and checked the time on his phone and paused, he could probably text Antti his change of plans in the lift. “Sure, that would be fine” He looked at the way Will was dressed – very casual in a jeans a t-shirt – and deemed that he didn’t need to change and he quickly grabbed his keycard and walked with Will towards the lift.

“Seanagh’s already downstairs” Seb gave a small sigh of relief. “And she made my parents promise to not interrogate you”

“I’m very pleased about that” Sebastian pressed the button for the lift and waited with his hands in his pockets. Will looked around, the floor was extremely quiet but he wanted to make sure that the lift was empty before he spoke.

“You’re not going to break my sister’s heart again are you?” Will asked as the doors closed. Seb sighed and a frown appeared on his face.

Will remembered when Seanagh had come home from Russia those years ago so clearly, when she walked in with Mary and ended up crying on the bottom of the stairs about how Seb had ended things with her just because he was switching teams. It had taken Will so long to actually like Seb again after that, and he really didn’t want to have to pick up his broken sister all over again because of him.

“Believe me that is that last thing I would ever want to do” Seb spoke firmly looking Will right in the eye, the lift seemed to be taking ages to go down. Turned out neither of them had remembered to press the button for the ground floor. “I made a horrible mistake three years ago, and I don’t intend on making it again” Seb looked right at Will, so he had to believe him. Thankfully Sebastian didn’t seem too offended by what Will had said, he had three siblings himself of course he knew protection when he saw it.

“I just wanted to make sure” Will said as they left the lifted and slowly walked into the reception area. Seb stopped and placed a hand on Will’s shoulder.

“I know” They both paused and shared a respectful smile. Will’s stomach rumbled and it lightened the mood enough for the pair to walk into the hotel restaurant and head straight for the buffet before sitting down at their table, Will and Seb both having Seanagh by their side.

 

_Sunday 12th November_

“Are you sure you don’t want to watch from the garage?” Seanagh looked at her parents with a raised eyebrow, she was just about to head for the garage when her parents had given her a pre-race hug and wished her luck for the race.

“We’ll be fine here love, honest”

“Well I’ve told the boys to leave you some headsets just in case” Vanessa led her driver out of hospitality and into the very warm paddock. The sun was high in the sky with not a cloud in sight. Not bad conditions for a Sunday drive.

 

It was ten minutes until the race start when Mark and Mary almost ran into the Ferrari garage; they looked around, seeing Seanagh’s engineers looking slightly frantic. The TV feed even showed her mechanics working on the car just minutes before the national anthem. After a few horrible minutes Maurizio returned from the grid and caught the gaze of Seanagh’s worried parents and went over to see them.

“Don’t worry, the problem seems to have sorted itself” Both Mark and Mary sighed with relief and Maurizio left to speak with Seanagh’s engineers to make doubly sure her car was going to be okay. Mark couldn’t help himself but look around the garage with such wonder; the crazy world for Formula 1 had changed so much since his very brief stint as a mechanic.

“Take it you’re staying then?” Richard appeared with the two spare headsets in his hands. Mary quickly took hers and firmly placed them over her ears; Mark looked at the bright red headphones and smiled when he took proper notice of them. They had Mark Palmer written on them in black; he looked up and noticed that Mary’s headset had her name on the side too. Mark hung the headphones around his neck and took a cautious step out into the pit lane. He looked up and down and across over to the now calm looking pit wall before carefully placing the headset over his ears and a small content sigh.

His daughter was now a proper part of Ferrari, and judging by the personalised headsets her family was now a part of the garage too.

 

The whole Ferrari garage let out a long slow breath as the cars pulled up for the race start. It wasn’t long until the final cars were in position and the famous five red lights glowed in the sunshine before they went out and all twenty cars launched away. Seb had a good start and squeezed past Bottas into turn one for the lead. The whole garage erupted into cheers; it seemed that Seanagh was almost going to make it a Ferrari 1-2 when carnage happened in the midfield bringing out the safety car.

Vanessa could hear Seanagh’s parents breathe a sigh of relief as the pack slowed with Sebastian leading and Seanagh in third place. The whole Ferrari garage was smiling at the sight; it truly felt like an age since Ferrari had led a race on merit without something getting in the way. She looked over at Richard who too looked relieved as have gave her a small thumbs up as he started typing on the team’s social media phone.

“Looking good” Antti briefly wandered over with has arms folded across his chest.

“Hopefully it lasts” Vanessa sighed anxiously, what she’d give for Ferrari to win another race after everything the season had thrown at them.

 

“Okay Seanagh, we‘re doing really good, but Hamilton has made up positions quicker than we thought so he will be a problem at the end of the race” Dave came on over the radio long after the safety car stint had ended.

“Crikey he’s eager” Seanagh blurted out a response without thinking as she took the apex of turn four.

“If anything happens I’ll let you know, just keep doing what you’re doing piccolina” Dave using the team’s nickname for Seanagh over the radio brought a smile to her face. If Lewis really thought that he was going to take third place off her than he definitely had another thing coming his way.

 

With five laps of the race left Lewis was in Seanagh’s DRS range. Back in the garage her parents, mechanics, Vanessa and Richard were stood in groups with their arms nervously around each other as they watched the race unfold on the TV in front of them. The Mercedes locked up going into the Senna S section which allowed Seanagh to pull away by a second or so.

The cars went round again and again, Seanagh’s family had no idea just what she was doing but she seemed to be keeping Lewis at bay. And when the chequered flag came out Sebastian crossed the line in first, with Bottas in second and Seanagh in third. Mark enveloped his wife in a huge hug as the mechanics all around them cheered in celebration. It was the team’s first win since July. And just about everyone felt that they deserved it.

 

Seanagh and Seb walked into the podium cool down room together and placed their helmets down before hugging each other for as long as they could.

“Well done” Seanagh smiled brightly at her boyfriend and patted his shoulder before going to take a drink of water. She knew she had to maintain her professional composure until they were out of eyesight, despite that she couldn’t have felt more proud of Sebastian after scoring another race win.

“You did a pretty good job at the end yourself” Seb leaned against the table with a wide smile, only having eyes for his team mate. There had been so many times in 2014 when they wished they could share a podium together. And while their double podiums at Ferrari always felt special, there was something about this one that felt so much better than all the rest.

“Always got to keep the champions on their toes” Seanagh grinned at Seb’s comment as she placed her podium cap on her head and waved to the camera. “Hi Mum!” She laughed knowing her family were in parc ferme with the rest of the team waiting to see the podium. It was so easy to see just what an impact them being there had on her. Seb had never seen her quite so pleased with herself. “Speaking of which, watch your back in Abu Dhabi”

“Oh you’re coming to get me are you?” Seb teased with a small laugh and a wink, before Seanagh could give a witty reply she was called out onto the podium and waved to the crowd, her team and her family before taking her spot in third place, taking pride at the sight of the Italian and Ferrari flags being waved in the breeze. She applauded Seb when he came out and the pair smiled at each other as the German and Italian anthems rang out into the air.

 

“I could kiss you right now” Seb grinned once they were finally in the privacy of one of their driver rooms. Seanagh smirked and wrapped her arms round Seb’s neck.

“Then why don’t you?” She giggled as Seb leaned down and kissed her. He slid his arms round her waist and pulled her in close, Sebastian never wanted to forget this weekend since it had been near-enough perfect. There were three sudden knocks on the door, both driver’s happily ignored them being far too preoccupied with their kiss to stop.

“Seb?” It was Antti at the door.

“I’m getting changed” Seb replied between steamy kisses.

“Are you decent?”

“No” Seb chuckled as Seanagh began to run her hands down Seb’s shirt. He smirked as Seanagh’s stray hand went back up towards his neck and started playing with his hair.

“Well I’m coming in anywa-” Thankfully Seanagh had the sense to push Seb far enough away that they weren’t kissing but still in each other’s hold. Antti took one look at the two team mates and rolled his eyes before walking straight back out again and quietly shutting the door.

“I mean you did say you weren’t decent” Seanagh smirked causing Seb to laugh and pulled her in closer again. He kissed her nose and smiled down at her.

“I love you darling” He so desperately wanted to say it on the podium but that definitely wasn’t the place. But right now, with all of their post-race duties out of the way and happily in the privacy of their own team, that definitely was.

“I love you too, mein meister” Seanagh grinned and pulled Sebastian in for another kiss.

 

The whole Ferrari team left pretty sharpish after the race, Maurizio, Sebastian, Seanagh and her family all managed to fit into one minibus with the drivers’ trainers, press officers and Stefi in a second vehicle following very close behind. Thankfully they all made it to the airport and checked into their flights, Seanagh was off with the team to Italy for a few days while her family were heading straight home.

“Thank you so much for coming” She hugged her parents and brother in turn, she had loved seeing them so much and really didn’t want them to go, but that was the life of an F1 driver, sadly family always came second to racing. “I’ll let you know when I land”

“Us too” Mark hugged his daughter tightly and kissed her head. “And keep an eye on that one for us” He looked at Sebastian who blushed before hugging Will goodbye and politely kissing Mary on the cheek. “Seb, can I have a quick word?”

“Of course” The two men walked a few feet away Mark looked around to make sure no one had taken too much notice of them.

“I just wanted to let you know that Mary meant what she said on Thursday, that you’re absolutely a part of this family now” Mark placed a firm hand on Seb’s shoulder and gave it a friendly squeeze.

“I appreciate it”

“If you ever need anything then you can call any one of us” Seb looked at the ground between his and Mark’s feet and smiled.

“I don’t know what I did for you all to welcome me in the way you have but, thank you” Sebastian looked at Mark sincerely and shook his hand. “And, for the other thing you want to say, I promise I’ll look after her” Not that Seanagh really need looking after, but it was more a repeat of the promise that Seb had made to Will the night before. That he was never, ever going to break Seanagh’s heart again.

“You’re a good man Seb” Mark paused as the gate for his flight to London was opened. “Well done on the win” Seb smiled in thank you as they walked back to Seanagh and the rest of her family.

“Have a safe flight; I’ll see you in a few days”

“Bye love, See you in Abu Dhabi Sebastian” Seanagh watched as her family left with a small sad sigh. She looked down when she felt something touch her hand and smiled when she saw Seb’s pinky finger wrapped around hers, it was about the biggest public gesture they could do now in public and she appreciated what it meant.

“Our flights are probably boarding soon” They walked together back to where their Ferrari entourage were. “I know I’m probably not the best company compared with your family but…” Seanagh laughed and placed a hand on Seb’s arm.

“You’re the best company I could ask for” The pair smiled sweetly at each other as they returned to their team and short while later boarded their flight back to Italy. The end of the season was finally in sight and it couldn’t have come soon enough.

**Author's Note:**

> As always feel free to leave kudos/comment if you enjoyed <3


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